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Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) conquered the steep remaining climb to win stage 5 of Paris-Nice, powering to victory atop the Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Sciez forward of Clément Champoussin (XDS Astana).
Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) set a ferocious tempo up the second half of the climb however was simply overtaken by an acceleration from Martinez to the road, although the American will take the race lead again from teammate Jonas Vingegaard. The American needed to accept third on the end.
It was a foul day for Vingegaard within the yellow jersey after he suffered a seemingly innocuous crash however was then clearly in ache as he struggled to match the GC favourites on the climb and misplaced a bit of time in addition to the race lead.
The 5 powerful climbs packed into the ultimate 50km of stage 5 made for a tough day in France, with a cagey finale earlier than the GC battle exploded on the punishing 11% slopes of the final climb, ushering in a major reshuffling of the highest 10.
Jorgenson now leads the GC by 22 seconds over Vingegaard, who remains to be in second, and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) moved into third, 36 seconds down on Jorgenson. Former third place Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) additionally struggled on the ultimate climb and is now in sixth, 57 seconds down. Winner Martinez earned himself a transfer as much as fifth.
How it unfolded
Stage 5 of Paris-Nice took the peloton Saint-Just-en-Chevalet to La Côte-Saint-André with no fewer than seven categorised climbs on the menu – plus some uncategorised ascents – and 5 of the official climbs packed into the ultimate 50km. It all culminated with the powerful Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Sciez, just one.7km lengthy however with a demanding 11.1% common gradient.
The stage began with a pair of climbs however with an actual probability of the breakaway making it to the end, the peloton have been very reluctant to let any threatening riders go, so the battle for the break took a very long time underneath chilly, disagreeable circumstances.
After greater than 50km, a handful of riders have been up the highway in disparate teams, and most have been caught however finally, after two hours, the duo of Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) and Thibaud Gruel (Groupama-FDJ) did handle to safe a slender hole because the peloton appeared to cool down.
Over the following two climbs, they pulled their lead out to 2:50, stabilising at round 1:45 on the flat they usually held the hole for an excellent whereas as Visma-Lease a Bike stored issues in verify within the peloton.
A small crash for Jonas Vingegaard on an uphill briefly made it appear like there could also be an issue, however the race chief rapidly had three teammates round him and after a motorbike change he was again on the transfer and again within the bunch. Initially, it seemed like Vingegaard was solely affected by a bloody lip, however it turned clear all through the day and on the end that he was in important ache.
The Dane then hovered across the again of the peloton with only one teammate for a lot of the day as the remainder of the squad lined up on the entrance, defending Matteo Jorgenson.
A punchy finale
The first of the 5 back-to-back climbs handed with none assaults, however did take virtually a minute out of the leaders’ benefit as issues began to ramp up into the finale.
On the Côte de Sibuze, Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers) attacked from the peloton and rapidly joined his teammate and Gruel within the break. The Norwegian’s presence clearly helped as they elevated their hole again up from 40 seconds to nearer to a minute. Three extra riders tried to observe Foss’ lead and likewise bridge the hole, however they have been introduced again because the peloton chased down the break.
On the third-last climb, Foss went solo from the break, as Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale set the tempo behind going into the ultimate 30km, rapidly sweeping up Swift and Gruel. Despite the very best efforts of the GC groups – albeit not large enter from Visma-Lease a BIke – Foss was someway extending his lead, holding onto 1:15 into the ultimate 20km.
The peloton kicked into motion on the penultimate Côte d’Arzay with varied riders making an attempt to clear. Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) managed to chip off the peloton, however that didn’t final lengthy as Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Lidl-Trek set a tricky tempo, sensing some hesitation from Vimsa-Lease a Bike.
On the flat within the remaining 10km earlier than the ending climb, there was nobody workforce placing collectively a concerted chase, with riders simply making an attempt to maintain up with the excessive tempo within the whittled-down group. Vingegaard lastly moved in direction of the entrance of the peloton with 8km to go as Visma finally kicked into gear.
Foss was lastly caught with 4km to go, establishing for an all-out finale up the Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Sciez. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) put in one other monster flip in help of his workforce chief Mattias Skjelmose, pulling off simply on the backside of the climb and permitting Visma to take over.
Whilst Jorgenson was properly positioned, Vingegaard was one of many first GC riders to begin to endure, swaying on the bike and slipping to the again of the group with nonetheless some 800m to go. Jorgenson led the race from the entrance, however couldn’t fairly shake off Martinez and Champoussin, with the Bahrain Victorious rider taking off at simply the precise second to seize victory on the road.
With Vingegaard dropping time, Jorgenson takes over the race lead from his teammate, a comfort for not successful the stage. Stage 6 is ready to be a day for the sprinters, however the American will nonetheless have two large climbing days on Saturday and Sunday if he’s to defend his title gained right here in 2024.
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