Paris-Nice stage 5 Live – Two-man break at last go clear after hectic start

70KM TO GO

Tudor are keeping the break under control. With 70km to go, the gap has dipped just below two minutes. 

Given that only two riders were able to get into the day’s break in the end, it’s advantage the peloton in terms of the stage win. Tudor Pro Cycling are backing Julian Alaphilippe, and are leading the peloton.

Two more riders confirmed as DNFs – Sylvain Moniquet (Cofidis) and Samuel Leroux (Total Energies). It’s a surprise the latter made it so far into this race, given how much he was hurt in a crash a couple of days ago.

Now Fabio Jakobsen has pulled out. He was having a tough time earlier today when he was one of the first riders to be dropped out of the peloton, and wasn’t able to get up there in the spurs earlier this week, his highest placing being ninth on stage 2.

Ryan Gibbons has abandoned the race. That leaves Lidl-Trek down to just five riders, which isn’t much to support the GC bid of leader Matthias Skjelmose, who is currently ranked third overall. 

The peloton, much calmer now than it was earlier.

The uphill finish today might be short but it’s more than steep enough to ensure a GC battle, so Vingegaard can’t afford to be too badly hurt if he is to avoid losing time. 

80KM TO GO

Up ahead, the two leaders still have a healthy lead, up to nearly three minutes.

Here’s Vingegaard getting an energy gell from his team car after the incident. He seems to have a small cut near his lips.

Here is Vingegaard just after that fall. He doesn’t look stressed, nor hurt.

He’s now back in the bunch.

Vingegaard required a bike change, but is back up and riding.

CRASH

Jonas Vingegaard has crashed.

Here’s the updated standings. Gachignard is closing the gap to Almeida (who took the jersey thanks to the points on offer at yesterday’s summit finish).

1 João Almeida 20

2 Thomas Gachignard 18

3 Alexandre Delettre 12 

4 Jonas Vingegaard 10

5 Andreas Leknessund 9

Swift and Gruel sweep up the points at the top of the climb in that order, while Gachignard moves to the front of the peloton to take the remaining one on offer.

CÔTE DE TREVES

That’s it, the peloton has sat up. Swift and Gruel at last have been let go, and they climb the Côte de Trèves with a gap of nearly three minutes. 

100KM TO GO

1-10 for Swift and Gruel. Is this now the break of the day?

This descent is proving beneficial to the leading duo. They’ve grown their lead to over a minute – the highest anyone has managed all day.

They’re motoring along now as they descend back down the draggy uphill they’ve just reached the top of. They’re headed towards the foot of the next official climb, Côte de Trèves (2.3 km à 5.8%).

110KM TO GO

The gap’s down to 20 seconds. Again, it’s Tudor Pro Cycling pulling the peloton.

And here’s the peloton chasing them close behind.

Here are Swift and Gruel leading the race.

A chase group did form out of the peloton, but Visma-Lease a Bike were having none of it, and brought them back. Still Swift and Gruel lead the race up the road.  

In contrast to Jonas Vingegaard, stage winner João Almeida felt the right decision was made to race on, reasoning that “cycling is not a sport for softies.”

120KM TO GO

30 seconds now for the two leaders, Ben Swift and Thibaud Gruel. They’ve been out there a while now, at least relative to all of today’s other attackers.

While we wait for the break to form, let’s look at some of the fall out from yesterday’s stage.

Jonas Vingegaard might have taken the yellow jersey, but was adamant afterwards in his belief that the stage should have been cancelled.

The peloton aren’t letting them go, and have them at just 15 seconds.

They’ve been caught by the peloton, leaving just Swift and Gruel out in front.

More moves from the peloton, as Mauro Schmid and Kobe Goossens again try their luck. They’ve joined Bayer and Scotson, and have formed a quartet in pursuit of Swift and Gruel.

Gruel and Swift are 10 seconds ahead of Scotson, 18 ahead of Bayer, and 33 ahead of the peloton.

Tobias Bayer of Alpecin-Deceuninck is also chasing them.

They have a small gap. Behind, Callum Scotson (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) is chasing them.

130KM TO GO

Ben Swift and Thibaud Gruel are the latest riders to try an attack. Will they succeed where everyone else has failed?

The riders are now ascending an uncategorised climb which is followed by another uncategorised uphill drag. This might be a chance for riders to go clear.

Clément Izquierdo is the Cofidis rider, but he’s been brought back already. 

So the attacks commence again, starting with a Cofidis rider.

Tudor Pro Cycling was the team who shut the move down. Clearly they fancy Julian Alaphilippe’s chances today.

Strength in numbers hasn’t helped though – the break has been caught.

The lead group has also grown in size, the 6 having been joined byJosh Tarling, Oscar Riesebeek, Warren Barguil and Jonas Abrahamsen. 

140KM TO GO

There’s still only a handful of seconds for the leaders, who aren’t being let go by the peloton.

A reminder of the 6 leaders:

Michael Matthews

Sean Flynn

Anders Skaarseth

Mauro Schmid

Anthony Turgis

Bruno Armirail

We’ve done an hour of racing now, and already 49.5km have been completed. This has been full-on racing.

 Nicolau was unable to bridge to the leaders, and is back in the peloton.

150KM TO GO

The fight goes on, though, as the peloton remains just 18 seconds behind.

The chasing trio have caught the leading trio, forming what is a very strong group of quality puncheurs.

Ineos are leading the peloton, and they’re not happy to let these breaks go.

Schmid, Armirail and Turgis are 20 seconds behind the leading trio, and Nicolau 10 seconds behind them.

In pursuit of them are four more riders: Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Anthon Turgis (Total Energies) Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros).

The three riders are Michael Matthews, Sean Flynn and Anders Skaarseth, and they have gap of almost 30 seconds.

Three more riders have attacked…and they have a gap!

160KM TO GO

Ten riders in a new group try their luck, but they too are unsuccessful. Still we have no break.

A 7-man group briefly formed, but they too have been brought back.

170KM TO GO

Still the battle to get into the break goes on, with no sign of it relenting.

Neilson Powless is one rider trying to get into the break. He’ll have more freedom to do so having dropped out of GC contention yesterday.

The riders are done descending, and are on flat roads for now. This could change the type of rider best equipped to get up the road.

Kobe Goossens was at the front of the race briefly, but he, like ever other attacker so far, was brought back. 

Guillaume Martin has just made it back into the peloton, having had a mechanical earlier. The Frenchman is in line for a high overall finish having finished 16th yesterday, moving him up to 16th on GC.

Here’s a first look at the riders out on the road.

180KM TO GO

Plenty of attacks are being made, but nothing is sticking.

None of those riders had previously taken any points, so the KOM rankings remain as they were:

1 João Almeida 20

2 Thomas Gachignard 17

3 Alexandre Delettre 12 

4 Jonas Vingegaard 10

5 Andreas Leknessund 9

He took three points in the King of the Mountains Classification, with Guillermo Thomas Silva two and Georg Steinhauser one. 

Kobe Goossens (Intermarché-Wanty) is the first rider to the top of the climb.

Some riders are falling out of the peloton already, incuding Fabio Jakobsen.

CÔTE DE SAINT-POLGUES

There’s a chance for riders with strong climbing legs to go clear, as they ascend the day’s first climb, the 1.5km Côte de Saint-Polgues, averaging 5.6%.

190KM TO GO

The peloton is still together, with no break having been formed. 

Here were the jersey wearers at the start of the stage – albeit with their jerseys covered up, what with the cold weather. Jonas Vingegaard is in yellow, Tim Merlier in green, and Matthias Skjelmose in white after yesterday’s GC shake up.

There are already lots of attacks firing out of the peloton, but nobody is being allowed up the road easily. 

Once again it’s very cold out, just like yesterday when the weather got so bad the organisers deemed it necessary to neutralise the race for a while. Some riders weren’t happy with how that was handled – more on that later.

197KM TO GO

And they’re off!

Most of the climbing is done during the second half of the stage, however. Though they will climb an uncategorised rise from the start, and take on the category three Côte de Saint-Polgues shortly after, the majority of the opening 20km are downhill, while the second of the day’s seven official climbs isn’t tackled until over halfway into the stage.

On such a hilly route, and with so many riders now out of GC contention, you sense this could be a day for the breakaway to succeed. We can therefore expect a real battle to get up the road once the flag is waved.

He and the rest of the bunch have begun riding, and are passing through the neutralised section.

There was a time when a climb like this had Julian Alaphilippe’s name written all over it, but the Frenchman isn’t quite the force he once was, and hasn’t won a race since last July. Nevertheless, he’s shown some signs of form, and must still be counted among the candidates for the stage win.

The final climb to the finish lasts 1.7km, and averages a brutal 10.8%. It’s a ‘wall’ in a similar vein to the Mur de Huy, and will require strong climbing legs, a quick punch, and good timing so as not to fade before the top.

You join us as we await the beginning of stage five, a long slog of about 200km through hilly terrain that will end with a steep wall of Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Sciez.