Time to light fireworks

March 13 ^th 2025 - 04:46

Visma-Lease a Bike and their leaders are not infallible. It is the nature of sport, and especially cycling, where many intrinsic and external elements come together to overthrow the established order. Who thought Jonas Vingegaard and Matteo Jorgenson had all the cards in hand to dominate the second part of the Race to the Sun, after their dominant performance in Tuesday’s team time trial? Virtually everyone… Who imagined stage 4, en route to La Loge des Gardes, would turn into an absolute ordeal, with hail battering the race before the sun returned? About nobody.

And yet, at the summit, Joao Almeida found the resources to get the better of the Danish climber after a brutal day of racing. The gap at the line was minimal: 1 second. Even factoring in time bonuses, Vingegaard, now wearing the yellow and white jersey, and Jorgenson still soar above the fray. But the rivals have seen an opening. Stage 5 shall inspire them to try again, with a sequence of walls leading to the final climb at La Côte-Saint-André: 1.7 km at 11.1%.

That’s more than enough to put the hammer down and put a rival to the sword or, at least, hurt him and gain some more time through bonus seconds… if stage hunters don’t manage to get the better of the GC contenders. For his return to Paris-Nice, with his new colors, Julian Alaphilippe has marked this finish, reminiscent of the Mur de Huy he used to dominate. Bring it on!