Despite transferring into the GC lead at Paris-Nice, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) believed racing ought to “by no means have continued” after brutal climate prompted stage 4 to be neutralised inside the ultimate 50 kilometres.
The stage was delivered to a halt by race officers as snow and heavy rain continued to fall earlier than the breakaway and peloton have been guided slowly underneath neutralised circumstances till 28.8km to go, the place the racing resumed.
Riders tried every little thing to get the heat again of their our bodies, with Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) even holding onto one of many race motorbikes to attempt to return warmth to his palms earlier than the restart.
“I’ve fairly blended emotions immediately, or not even blended emotions – I’m simply not likely blissful in the meanwhile as a result of, in my view, we should always by no means have raced this last, and we should always by no means have continued after we did,” Vingegaard instructed CyclingProNet after the end.
“I would not say [it was] too harmful, however it was extra that we have been using greater than 10-12km within the downhill and going tremendous sluggish, and everybody was freezing. Nobody might really feel their brakes.
“Then now we have 5 to 10 minutes to warmth up once more, however you do not actually get the warmth, and I nonetheless have not gotten the warmth again in my physique. I’m nonetheless chilly.”
The circumstances have been so robust that a number of riders have been left shaking within the freezing temperatures, with one TotalEnergies rider even pressured to desert the race resulting from struggling within the chilly.
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“The extraordinarily tough climate circumstances left Steff Cras affected by hypothermia, and he was pressured to desert the race,” mentioned TotalEnergies on X.
When the racing resumed and the stage reached the ultimate climb to La Loge des Gardes, Vingegaard labored properly with teammate and pre-stage race chief Matteo Jorgenson to mark assaults and attempt to management the group of favourites.
Vingegaard marked two bursts from Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) earlier than launching away solo inside the ultimate two kilometres. He acquired a niche however failed to point out the identical invincibility that his rival Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) has in 2025, solely extending out a niche of 10 seconds.
“I believe it impacts everybody that the climate is like this, and we have been working tremendous properly collectively on the final climb, overlaying the assaults collectively,” mentioned Vingegaard. “I used to be feeling fairly good, so I additionally had the liberty to go for it.”
João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) paced within the group behind to maintain Vingegaard shut, with Jorgenson in his wheel. However, when the ultimate 100 metres arrived, Almeida was too sturdy for each of the Visma-Lease a Bike riders. He finally sprinted from behind and overtook Vingegaard simply earlier than the road to take the stage victory and make massive features on GC.
“Unfortunately for me, I used to be handed within the final 25 metres, and that is biking, however it’s additionally disappointing for me as properly,” mentioned Vingegaard, who holds a five-second lead over Jorgenson in second and a 37-second benefit over Almeida in fifth heading into stage 5.