Paris-Nice is a race of many parts, but this year's edition can be roughly broken into two halves. After four days on the flat, with brisk crosswinds for company, the terrain turns more rugged for the remainder of the race, beginning with today's 188km leg from Saint-Just-Saint-Rambert to Saint-Sauveur-de-Montagut, which takes in five classified climbs, including three category 1 ascents. And, for good measure, there’s an uphill kick to the intermediate sprint in Saint-Vincent-de-Durfort, which is followed by an 12km drop towards the finish.
The peloton rolls out of Saint-Just-Saint-Rambert at 11am local time, and is scheduled to hit kilometre zero at 11.10.
General classification after stage 4
The day's five classified climbs are as follows:
The peloton has hit kilometre zero and stage 5 of Paris-Nice is formally underway, albeit with a remarkably long list of non-starters. After two years of doing everything imaginable to avoid COVID-19 infection, it appears that many riders have been succumbing to flu both here and at Tirreno-Adriatico this week. There are 18 non-partants to report today: Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe), Amaury Capiot (Arkea-Samsic), Gino Mäder (Bahrain Victorious), Matteo Trentin (UAE Emirates), Clément Champoussin (AG2R-Citroën), Yves Lampaert, Zdenek Stybar (Quick Step-Alpha Vinyle), Dylan Groenewegen (BikeeXchange-Jayco), Dylan Vermaercke (DSM), Stefan Bisseger, Jens Keukeleire, Neilson Pawless (EF Education-Easypost), Carl Frederik Hagen, James Piccoli, Tom Van Asbroeck (Israel-Premier Tech), Jonas Rickaert, Kristian Sbaragli and Jay Vine (Alpecin-Fenix).
Matteo Trentin's withdrawal is due to a delayed concussion rather than illness. The Italian crashed heavily on stage 2, hitting his head in the process, but he was passed fit to complete the stage and to race over the past two days. He reported symptoms of post-concussive syndrome following yesterday's time trial, however, and he is now out of the race. Read more here.
Today is advertised as a day for the baroudeurs, and, not surprisingly, there is no shortage of riders trying to make the day's early break. The pace is accordingly rasping in the opening kilometres, but no move has yet managed to establish itself.
The day’s first ascent, the Col de la Croix de Chaubouret, begins after 25km and that should give a break a chance to forge clear. The name is an evocative one. The Croix de Chaubouret was once a staple of this race and, above all, was the traditional springboard for attackers when the Tour de France visited Saint-Étienne, though it has fallen out of favour in recent years.
-179km
And the peloton duly shuts down the would-be escapees. We begin again...
-173km
Trek-Segafredo have been chasing, but it appears as though McNulty et al are winning the battle. Their lead extends to 40 seconds.
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-161km
Jumbo-Visma have taken up the reins in the peloton and they are holding the break's lead at around the four-minute mark. Wout van Aert wears yellow but, after stretching himself at Tirreno-Adriatico last year, he insists that he would prefer to spare himself for the Classics ahead this time out. Primož Roglič, second at 10 seconds, lies poised to take over if and when his teammate relents this week.
-157km
Ruben Fernandez (Cofidis) is the highest placed of the escapees in the general classification. He began the day 4:34 down in 51st place overall, and he is now the virtual race leader.
BikeExchange-Jayco have joined Jumbo-Visma in taking a controlling interest at the head of the peloton, and with good reason. Simon Yates positioned himself as Primoz Roglic's chief challenger with a fine display in yesterday's 13.4km time trial. The Bury man was even the quickest at the intermediate check, and although he fell back to 5th by the finish, he is the best-placed non-Jumbo rider on GC. He lies 4th at 49 seconds from Van Aert and 39 seconds behind Roglic. "I'm pretty happy with that, obviously. It's the best TT I've done for a while and we'll see what the rest of the race has to say now," Yates said afterwards. Read more here.
-152km
The peloton crests the summit of the Col de la Croix de Chaubouret some 5:50 down on the ten leaders. A long descent into the Ardèche follows ahead of the next climb, the category 3 Côte de Saint-Jeure-d’Ay (2.2km at 5.3%), which comes after 78km of racing.
For the record, Madouas picked up 10 points atop the Croix-de-Chaubouret. Vanhoucke picked up 5 points for second, while Jorgensen, Bonnamour and Fernandez rounded out the first five across the summit.
-145km
There are only 126 riders left in Paris-Nice after the overnight spate of abandons, with Israel Premier Tech the worst affected. Hugo Houle is the only one of their seven starters still in the race. There have also been riders leaving Tirreno-Adriatico due to the effects of flu, and you can read more about the wave of illness here.
-136km
-127km
Wout van Aert holds the yellow jersey but Primoz Roglic is the man in pole position to take overall victory after Jumbo-Visma's remarkable dominance to this point. Read Laura Weislo's analysis of the current state of play here.
The escapees have reached the day's second climb, the category Côte de Saint-Jeure-d'Ay (2.2km at 5.3%) with a lead of 6:50 over the peloton.
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Groupama-FDJ began this race with high hopes for David Gaudu, an impressive stage winner on the Alto da Fòia in the Volta ao Algarve, but his challenge was ruined by a crash on stage 2, which saw him lose almost ten minutes. Laurent Madouas also lost nine minutes that day, and Groupama-FDJ's GC challenge was already over at that point. They will hope to put a different gloss on their race in the days to come, starting with Madouas' committed presence in today's break.
Another abandon to report. Luis Leon Sanchez has climbed off. His Bahrain Victorious teammate Gino Mäder was a non-starter today, while Sonny Colbrelli didn't start on stage 2.
-83km
Alexys Brunel (UAE Team Emirates) has also abandoned the race at the feed zone in Mauves.
-79km
João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) has lost contact with the peloton on the Côte de Saint-Romain-de-Lerps. The Portuguese rider performed strongly at the recent UAE Tour, but he was a distant 22nd in yesterday's time trial and he began the day 3:18 down in 36th overall.
The peloton is shedding riders as the climbing continues. Fabio Jakobsen, Jasper Philipsen, Mike Teunissen and Iljo Keisse are among the riders distanced. Tom Bohli (Cofidis) has abandoned the race.
-76km
-74km
Lukasz Wisniowski (EF Education-EasyPost) is the latest rider to abandon the race.
-64km
The escapees are barrelling towards the category 2 Côte de Toulard (1.5km at 9.7%). Their unity has remained intact thus far, but we can expect that to fragment spectacularly once they hit the category 1 Col de la Mure in the finale.
Brandon McNulty had this to say at the start (per Eurosport): “I haven’t really had legs since the crosswind day [stage 2]. I had a crash and my body hasn’t responded very well, so I’m just trying to get through. It’s nothing in particular, but when you hit the ground, the body reacts. In theory, normally today would be a great day for me, but we’ll see how the leg feel. I’ll try but it’s really up to how the body responds. It looks like a day for the break but you never know how Jumbo will race. With the threat of the Col de Turini being cancelled, maybe they’ll race full again.”
With snow forecast for the Col de Turini on Saturday, Paris-Nice could yet lose its summit finish. That might well play to the favour of Wout van Aert rather than his nominal leader Primoz Roglic. "It’s a hard parcours, hard climbs. You have to be there and hopefully I have legs, I will give everything to be there," Roglic said before the start. "If I’m honest, I’m happier with my shape than I was before the start. We’ll see. I’m still healthy and hopefully it will go that way to the end. We’ll see how the race will go. For us, the idea is to do the best with the whole team. If Wout can win, he will win. And if I can win, I will.”
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Men like Keisse and Teunissen, who battled back on after being dropped on the previous Côte de Saint-Romain-de-Lerps, have again lost contact near the top of this category 2 ascent, but they should be able to latch back on over the other side.
Jumbo-Visma continue to set the tempo on the Côte de Toulard. A delegation fromm Ineos move up just behind them, and Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco) is also well placed.
Jumbo-Visma lead the bunch over the Côte de Toulard 6:38 behind the ten leaders. Ruben Fernandez remains the virtual race leader, but we can expect the gap to contract on the Col de la Mure.
The Col de la Mure (7.6km at 8.3%) is the only classified climb left on the menu, but there is still plenty of climbing in the 33km that follow. Most notably, the race climbs to Saint-Vincent-de-Durfort (4.8km at 5.4%), which features an intermediate sprint halfway up. The sprint comes 12.1km from the finish, and there is another short kick upwards with 4km to go.
-50km
The race is on a rare long and flat sector of road on the run-in to the Col de la Mure, and the peloton is making its numerical advantage count, cutting the break's lead to within 6 minutes.
-44km
Adam Yates (11th at 1:21) remains in GC contention, though he told Eurosport at the start that his UAE Tour form was not necessarily a pointer for Paris-Nice. "Obviously, in UAE I was pretty good, but it was a very different race to here. There it was often easy at the start and then one big effort at the end," Yates said. "Today is going to be a hard day, we’ll see what happens." In the absence of the injured Egan Bernal, Yates will be Ineos' outright leader at this year's Tour de France. Stephen Farrand has more details on their 2022 Grand Tour plans here, including a possible Tour debut for Tom Pidcock.
-40km
Brandon McNulty slips to the back of the break. Valentin Madouas casts a glance over his shoulder, unsure if the American is struggling or sandbagging on the lower part of the key climb.
-39km
Back in the bunch, the pace ratcheted up on the run-in to the foot of the climb as the battle for positions began, but it's still Jumbo-Visma who set the tempo as the gradient bites.
McNulty dropped back to his car to deposit his arm warmers before his acceleration, and he has opened a decent gap. Jorgensen and Madouas lead the pursuers. Doull and Morkov have both been dropped by the break.
McNulty has already taken two spectacular solo wins this season and the American is laying the groundwork for a third here. He has opened a mammoth gap over the rest of the break and they will struggle to pin him back.
-37.5km
Wout van Aert has been dropped by the peloton on the Col de la Mure. The Belgian will not win Paris-Nice. It's over to Primoz Roglic for Jumbo-Visma...
-36km
Arkea-Samsic's show of force has suddenly left Roglic quite isolated, with Van Aert, Christophe Laporte and Steven Kruijswijk all dropped. Rohan Dennis is still here for Roglic, and he moves to the front of the rapidly diminishing peloton to try to restore some order.
McNulty has 3km of climbing left on the Col de la Mure and he looks to be cruising towards stage victory, even with so much of the stage to go. He is 43 seconds clear of the chasers and 5:00 up on the peloton.
Arkea have relented their onslaught and Rohan Dennis sets a steadier tempo at the head of the bunch. Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) senses the lull and jumps clear from the peloton.
-35km
Nicolas Edet (Arkea-Samsic) now attacks from the very reduced peloton and sets off in pursuit of Guillaume Martin. Rohan Dennis doesn't respond to the acceleration, and he keeps tapping out a steady tempo for Roglic.
-34km
Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal) and Frank Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM) are the three men still chasing McNulty nearing the summit of the Col de la Mure, but they are now almost a minute down on the American.
-33km
Rohan Dennis is the only Jumbo-Visma rider left in the reduced peloton, but the Australian is summoning up his 2020 Giro condition to stabilise everything for Roglic.
-30km
Guillaume Martin is still lingering just ahead of the Rohan Dennis-led peloton near the top of the Col de la Mure, but the Frenchman might struggle to stay clear on the long descent.
Arkea-Samsic's early onslaught on the peloton whittled down the bunch considerably but the anticipated Quintana attack didn't materialise. However, Roglic is very isolated ahead of the climb to the intermediate sprint with 12km to go, so we can surely expect some frissons in the finale.
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A reminder that Wout van Aert was dropped by the peloton on the Col de la Mure. As things stand, his teammate Primoz Roglic is in line to inherit the yellow jersey, but there could well be pyrotechnics on the climb towards the intermediate sprint at Saint-Vincent-de-Durfort with 12km remaining.
-22km
Yellow jersey Wout van Aert, meanwhile, trails McNulty by 13 minutes over the Col de la Mure.
-20km
The imemdiate chasers are now just two. Harm Vanhoucke has lost contact with Frank Bonnamour and Matteo Jorgensen on the descent of the Col de la Mure.
-18km
-17km
Brandon McNulty is still pedalling gracefully on this unclassified climb and, despite the game efforts of Jorgensen and Bonnamour, it's difficult to imagine him squandering his lead from here.
-15km
Primoz Roglic is still on course to take over the yellow jersey, but he is very isolated in the peloton, with just Rohan Dennis for company. The Yates brothers, Vlasov, Martinez, Latour et al won't have a better chance to discommode Roglic than this...
-13km
-12.5km
-12km
Rohan Dennis swings off in the peloton after a remarkable display of fire-fighting for Jumbo-Visma, but Primoz Roglic will have to navigate the finale alone...
Pierre Latour leads the reduced peloton on the climb, with Adam Yates and Daniel Martinez on his wheel. Roglic sits vigilantly in fourth place.
Adam Yates comes through and Dani Martinez tries to let a gap open to wrongfoot Roglic, but the Briton is brought back. Undeterred, Adam Yates strings out what is now a peloton of just 20 or so riders...
Daniel Martinez accelerates viciously from the group of favourites, and Mauri Vansevenant leads the chase...
Roglic didn't react initially, but now he is the man leading the group of favourites. Martinez, however, looks like a man on a mission, and he is opening a gap...
Vlasov takes up the chase of Martinez, with Roglic on his wheel... And then Roglic decides to act with more urgency. The Slovenian climbs out of the saddle and stretches out the group of favourites.
Simon Yates senses a chance and he kicks within sight of the intermediate sprint. The bonus seconds have already been snaffled, but it's a chance to trouble Roglic. The Slovenian is able to hold the wheels, however. Meanwhile, the accelerations are bringing Martinez back.
After Simon Yates desists, Vlasov has a go and opens a small gap over the Roglic group, but there isn't much climbing left.
-6.5km
Martin and Martinez are on the cusp of being brought back by Roglic on the last portion of climbing. The Slovenian looks set to take yellow this afternoon...
-5km
-3km
-1km
Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) win stage 5 of Paris-Nice by a country mile.
Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels) outsprints Matteo Jorgensen (Movistar) for second place at 1:57.
Harm Vanhoucke comes home in fourth. Unless there are late, late frissons in the group of favourites, Primoz Roglic will take the overall lead.
The Roglic group comes in at 5:43, and the Slovenian will move into the yellow jersey of overall leader. Jumbo-Visma's dominance of the GC has diminished this evening, however, after Van Aert cracked on the Col de la Mure.
| Pos. | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates | 4:53:30 |
| 2 | Franck Bonnamour (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM | 0:01:58 |
| 3 | Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Movistar Team | |
| 4 | Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 0:02:30 |
| 5 | Laurent Pichon (Fra) Arkea-Samsic | 0:04:01 |
| 6 | Anthony Turgis (Fra) TotalEnergies | 0:04:02 |
| 7 | Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | 0:04:57 |
| 8 | Owain Doull (GBr) EF Education-EasyPost | |
| 9 | Pierre Latour (Fra) TotalEnergies | 0:05:43 |
| 10 | Quentin Pacher (Fra) Groupama-FDJ |
| Pos. | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma | 16:50:28 |
| 2 | Simon Yates (GBr) BikeExchange-Jayco | 0:00:39 |
| 3 | Pierre Latour (Fra) TotalEnergies | 0:00:41 |
| 4 | Daniel Martinez Poveda (Col) Ineos Grenadiers | 0:00:56 |
| 5 | Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Bora-Hansgrohe | 0:00:59 |
| 6 | Adam Yates (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers | 0:01:11 |
| 7 | S�ren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team DSM | 0:01:26 |
| 8 | Jack Haig (Aus) Bahrain Victorious | 0:01:35 |
| 9 | Nairo Quintana (Col) Arkea-Samsic | 0:01:45 |
| 10 | Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Cofidis | 0:02:01 |
Roglic's isolation in the finale showed that Jumbo-Visma are far from invincible, but his rivals were unable to take advantage. That was partly down to Dennis' policing on the Col de la Mure and also, of course, due to Roglic's own poise on the climb towards the intermediate sprint in the finale. He understood it was a day to race on the defensively and he cut his cloth accordingly, picking and choosing which moves to follow.
Brandon McNulty on his second victory in the Ardèche this season: "It’s incredible. It still hasn’t even sunk in yet but I’m so happy. It’s my first WorldTour victory but also under the circumstance, since the crosswinds day, I had had a crash and just haven’t been good. I was debating even continuing on or just resetting, so from considering not even starting today, it’s incredible. We did the same climbs [as at the Faun-Ardèche Classic] . I was at home for a bit, good memories."
A full report, results and photographs from today's stage are available here.
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