Defending champion Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) has mentioned he “didn’t have a superb feeling in any respect” as he misplaced the chief’s jersey on stage 4 of Paris-Nice after turning into chilly and moist in a sequence of complicated stops and restarts on account of poor climate.
Wednesday’s fourth stage was quickly stopped after 120km on account of hail, after which restarted beneath impartial situations earlier than racing ultimately resumed correctly, however Jorgenson mentioned communication was missing, leaving some riders unaware once they had been meant to start out using once more.
“There was no clarification in any respect,” the American informed cameras from ITV and Cycling Pro Netafter the stage, which noticed his teammate Jonas Vingegaard take the lead and João Almeida (UAE Emirates-XRG) win the stage.
“They stopped us and all of the vehicles got here up and we began placing on completely different garments like extra jackets as a result of it was actually raining exhausting. We actually stopped on the coldest second I feel.”
The drawback, it appeared, then got here from the truth that some riders, together with Jorgenson, weren’t conscious the race was about to restart, neutrally behind the lead automobile.
“Suddenly once I was behind the [team] automobile I noticed the crimson automobile with a bunch of riders behind it simply take off, no clarification, so I jumped on my bike and chased for 10k after which after we bought again that they had stopped once more. Then they determined to restart us, so it was actually like huge ups and downs and loads for the physique to soak up.
“I simply pushed for like 10k simply to get heat once more, I did not even know if we had been racing.”
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Jorgenson on the automobile throughout the stoppage (Image credit score: Getty Images)
Racing began correctly simply earlier than the ultimate, 6.7km climb to La Loge des Gardes, the place Jorgenson and Vingegaard had been alone after dropping their teammates amidst the confusion of the stops and begins.
Vingegaard proved to be the stronger of the Visma co-leaders, attacking within the finale and simply being overwhelmed to the road by Almeida however transferring into the GC forward of a barely much less firing Jorgenson.
“I do not know if it affected me greater than it affected others however I simply had a rollercoaster of an inside physique state,” Jorgenson mentioned of the chilly.
“It was simply very tough to get my physique temperature again up. I had the sensation I used to be respiration tremendous deep, simply felt like a extremely annoying rollercoaster for the physique. On the final climb I fought with the legs I had, however I did not actually have a superb feeling in any respect.”
Despite some disappointment in his efficiency, it was removed from a nasty day for Jorgenson and his group, with the yellow jersey transferring onto the shoulders of his teammate, and the American solely dropping to second general, 5 seconds down.
“If you’re taking away the situations of our legs on the climb, and our performances, I feel we tactically performed it fairly properly,” he mentioned. “Jonas was actually good and truly bought his head again within the sport greater than I did, it appeared like, which was nice to see. Just in the long run João was the strongest one and clearly the warmest within the group and was tremendous robust so congrats to him.”
Despite lacking out on the stage win, Visma-Lease a Bike stay in a superb place at Paris-Nice, and have 4 extra phases to proper any wrongs and defend their victory from 2024.
