Paris-Nice stage 5 - Live coverage

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

1          Wout Van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma   11:51:05

2          Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma    0:00:10

3          Christophe Laporte (Fra) Jumbo-Visma        0:00:28

4          Simon Yates (GBr) BikeExchange-Jayco      0:00:49

5          Pierre Latour (Fra) TotalEnergies      0:00:51

6          Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo           0:00:53

7          Daniel Martinez Poveda (Col) Ineos Grenadiers       0:01:06

8          Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Bora-Hansgrohe      0:01:09

9          Stefan Bissegger (Swi) EF Education-EasyPost        0:01:13

10        Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team DSM     0:01:19

11        Adam Yates (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:01:21

12        Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:41

13        Jack Haig (Aus) Bahrain Victorious  0:01:45

14        Bryan Coquard (Fra) Cofidis  0:01:51

15        Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers     0:01:53

16        Clément Champoussin (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team    0:01:54

17        Nairo Quintana (Col) Arkea-Samsic  0:01:55

18        Florian Senechal (Fra) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team          0:01:57

19        Fabien Doubey (Fra) TotalEnergies   0:02:02

20        Hugo Houle (Can) Israel-Premier Tech         0:02:04

The day's five classified climbs are as follows:

Col de la Croix de Chaubouret (Cat. 1), 10km at 6.7%

Côte de Saint-Jeure-d’Ay (Cat. 2), 2.2km at 5.3%

Côte de Saint-Romain-de-Lerps (Cat. 1), 6.5km at 7.3%

Côte de Toulard (Cat. 2), 1.5km at 9.7%

Col de la Mure (Cat. 1), 7.6km at 8.3%

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.

In 1980, Ismael Lejarreta led Sean Kelly over the top, although the Irishman almost rode him off his wheel over the other side and then disposed of him easily in the sprint in Saint-Étienne. Luis Herrera was first to the top in 1985, though the stage is best remembered for Bernard Hinault’s crash in the final kilometre.

In 1990, Greg LeMond made significant gains on Claudio Chiappucci’s yellow jersey on the ascent, laying the foundations of his third overall victory. In 1995, Max Sciandri tracked Hernan Buenahora on the climb and then outsprinted him in Saint-Étienne. Two years later, the ascent was part of the Saint-Étienne time trial as Jan Ullrich put over three minutes into everybody else. And in 1999, Belgian champion Ludo Dierckxsens soloed to victory, though he was later sent home by his team after telling anti-doping officials that he had used a corticoid to treat a knee injury two months earlier. The doping control in question came back negative, however, and the stage win remained in Dierckxsens’ possession.

-179km

A group of fifteen riders have managed to open a small gap over the peloton, though they will need their day passes stamped by the Jumbo-Visma squad if they are going to be allowed to go clear.

And the peloton duly shuts down the would-be escapees. We begin again...

-173km

A group of 10 riders has escaped the peloton ahead of the Col de la Croix de Chaubouret and opened a gap of 20 seconds over the peloton. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), whose GC hopes were dashed earlier in the week, is among them. The American has made a fine start to 2022, with two victories, and his time trial performance yesterday (14th) indicated that his form has not entirely deserted him, despite the blow to his morale.

Trek-Segafredo have been chasing, but it appears as though McNulty et al are winning the battle. Their lead extends to 40 seconds.

-170km

Break:

Ruben Fernandez (Cofidis), Laurent Pichon (Arkea-Samsic), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Michael Mørkøv (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Owain Doull (EF Education-EasyPost), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM).

Peloton at 0:40

-166km

The pace has abated considerably in the peloton now that the ten escapees have established themselves, and the gap grows accordingly. McNulty, Jorgensen, Vanhoucke, Turgis, Madouas, Doull, Mørkøv, Pinchon, Fernandez and Bonnamour now have 2:45 over the bunch.

-161km

The 10 leaders are on the lower slopes of the hallowed Croix-de-Chaubouret and their lead over the peloton has yawned out to four minutes. Paris-Nice last visited this climb in 2015, when stage 4 finished at the summit and Richie Porte scored victory ahead of Sky teammate Geraint Thomas, while world champion Michal Kwiawtkowski - then of QuickStep - took the race lead. Porte would go on to win the race overall in Nice ahead of Kwiatkowski and Simon Spilak, who carved out an enigmatic niche as a one-week specialist who eschewed the Grand Tours. 

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

Break:

Ruben Fernandez (Cofidis), Laurent Pichon (Arkea-Samsic), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Michael Mørkøv (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Owain Doull (EF Education-EasyPost), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM).

Peloton at 5:35

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

Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) leads the break over the summit of the Col de la Croix de Chaubouret. With two more category 1 ascents to come, there is scope for one of the escapees to place a significant down payment on the king of the mountains jersey this afternoon.

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

Break:

Ruben Fernandez (Cofidis), Laurent Pichon (Arkea-Samsic), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Michael Mørkøv (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Owain Doull (EF Education-EasyPost), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM).

Peloton at 6:05

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

The break continues to augment its advantage on the long drop off the Croix du Chaubouret. The gap is out to 6:40.

-127km

Break:

Ruben Fernandez (Cofidis), Laurent Pichon (Arkea-Samsic), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Michael Mørkøv (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Owain Doull (EF Education-EasyPost), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM).

Peloton at 6:55

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.

-108km

Valentin Madouas again takes maximum points in the king of the mountains competition, as he leads Vanhoucke and McNulty over the summit of the Côte de Saint-Jeure-d'Ay. The peloton trails by 6:50.

-100km

Michael Mørkøv led the break through the intermediate sprint in Etables. The escapees are now into the final 100km with a lead of 6:45 over the bunch.

-96km

After two hours of racing and some rugged terrain, the average speed is 39.3kph. The next climb on the agenda for the break is the category 1 Côte de Saint-Romain-de-Lerps (6.5km at 7.3%), which is about ten miles away.

-93km

Break:

Ruben Fernandez (Cofidis), Laurent Pichon (Arkea-Samsic), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Michael Mørkøv (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Owain Doull (EF Education-EasyPost), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM).

Peloton at 7:05

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

Break:

Ruben Fernandez (Cofidis), Laurent Pichon (Arkea-Samsic), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Michael Mørkøv (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Owain Doull (EF Education-EasyPost), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM).

Peloton at 7:30

Alexys Brunel (UAE Team Emirates) has also abandoned the race at the feed zone in  Mauves.

-79km

Madouas, McNulty and company hit the foo of the category 1 Côte de Saint-Romain-de-Lerps (6.5km at 7.3%) with a lead of 7:25 over the peloton, which is being controlled by Jumbo-Visma. 

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

There has been a discernible rise in intensity in the bunch, and the break's advantage has contracted to 6:05 on the climb.

-74km

Valentin Madouas continues to cement his virtual lead in the king of the mountains standings. The Breton leads Vanhoucke, Doull, Turgis and McNulty over the top of the Côte de Saint-Romain-de-Lerps.

Lukasz Wisniowski (EF Education-EasyPost) is the latest rider to abandon the race.

-64km

Break:

Ruben Fernandez (Cofidis), Laurent Pichon (Arkea-Samsic), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Michael Mørkøv (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Owain Doull (EF Education-EasyPost), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM).

Peloton at 6:34

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.”

-59km

Out in front, the break splinters gently as Valentin Madouas sprints for the points atop the Côte de Toulard. The move will regroup over the other side, and the ten leaders maintain their buffer of 7 minutes over the peloton.

-58km

Break:

Ruben Fernandez (Cofidis), Laurent Pichon (Arkea-Samsic), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Michael Mørkøv (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Owain Doull (EF Education-EasyPost), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM).

Peloton at 7:01

 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

Into the final 50km for the ten escapees, who are still clutching a buffer of 6:13 over the Jumbo-Visma-led peloton. 

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

Ruben Fernandez (Cofidis), Laurent Pichon (Arkea-Samsic), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Michael Mørkøv (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Owain Doull (EF Education-EasyPost), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM) continue to show a united front at the head of the race, but their alliance of circumstance will surely begin to fray on the Col de la Mure. 

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

The break is on the lower slopes of the category 1 Col de la Mure (7.6km at 8.3%) with a lead of 6:06 on the peloton. It looks increasingly as though the stage winner will come from among the ten leaders, though we will see if there are any frissons on this climb back in the yellow jersey group.

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

McNulty was bluffing... The Arizon accelerates briskly from the rear of the break and immeditately opens a gap over his companions. Mørkøv slides out the back of the break and Doull is also struggling.

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

Arkea-Samsic take up the reins in the peloton on behalf of Nairo Quintana, and it's notable that Van Aert is no longer perched towards the front...

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

Break:

Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates)

Chasers at 0:36

Ruben Fernandez (Cofidis), Laurent Pichon (Arkea-Samsic), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM).

Peloton at 4:47

Dropped:

Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma)

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

Brandon McNulty is pedalling very smoothly on the upper reaches of the Col de le Mure, and he has 47 seconds on his pursuers and 5:12 on the reduced peloton. 

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

Break:

Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates)

Chasers at 0:56

Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Frank Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM)

Peloton at 5:15

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

Brandon McNulty crests the sumit of the Col de la Mure with a lead of one minute over Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Frank Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM).

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

Break:

Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates)

Chasers at 1:15

Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Frank Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM)

Peloton at 5:20

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. 

-27km

Break:

Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates)

Chasers at 1:15:

Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Frank Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM)

Chaser at 5:17

Guillaume Martin (Cofidis)

Peloton at 5:35

-25km

Brandon McNulty dealt smoothly with the early part of the descent off the Mure, and now he has reached the more technically demanding section towards the bottom. Before the start, he wasn't sure if he had recovered from his crash earlier in the week. This performance will assuage his doubts. 

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

Rohan Dennis continues to lead the reduced peloton on the descent off the Col de la Mure, and their deficit on McNulty has stretched out to 6:01.

Yellow jersey Wout van Aert, meanwhile, trails McNulty by 13 minutes over the Col de la Mure. 

-20km

We haven't been given a time gap between McNulty and his immediate chasers since the top of the descent, but the American has shown no sign of flagging and he looks to be cruising towards a solo stage victory. 

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

Break:

Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates)

Chasers at 1:02:

Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Frank Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM)

Chaser at 5:10

Guillaume Martin (Cofidis)

Peloton at 6:15

Wout van Aert at 13:00

-17km

McNulty has finished the descent of the Col de la Mure, and he is now beginning the long drag towards the sprint at Saint-Vincent-de-Durfort.

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

We haven't seen Guillaume Martin for some time, but it appears the Frenchman is 5:20 down on McNulty and - more relevantly - a minute clear of the peloton.

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

Break:

Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates)

Chasers at 1:11:

Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Frank Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal)

Chaser at 5:23

Guillaume Martin (Cofidis)

Peloton at 6:20

Wout van Aert at 13:00

-12.5km

Pierre Latour outlines his intentions in the peloton by setting his Total Energies teammates to work on the climb towards the intermediate sprint.

-12km

Brandon McNulty is through the intermediate sprint with a lead of 1:30 over his chasers. He still has another 2km or so of climbing before he begins the drop towards the finish, but the stage win looks to be in the bag.

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

Brandon McNulty is cruising to stage victory, 2:15 clear of his chasers at 5:44 clear of Martinez, who has joined Guillaume Martin. Roglic has led the GC contenders up to Vlasov, 5:58 down on McNulty.

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

It's all over bar the shouting for Brandon McNulty, who is more than 2 minutes clear of his immediate chasers. The Roglic group, which contains Martin, Martinez, Vlasov, Almeida, the Yates brothers and Pierre Latour, is in the final 10km, 5:48 back, but with the day's climbing all but behind them.

-3km

McNulty allows himself a broad smile on the final, shallow gradients before the drop towards the finish. He is about to claim his third win of the season and his first in the WorldTour.

-1km

Into the final kilometre for McNulty, who will have time to savour his third lengthy solo win of 2022

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.

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.