As it happened: GC action on summit finish despite weather-enforced neutralisation

Finally Almeida stormed past him to take the win.

Then Almeida bridged up to him in the final few hundred metres.

Here's Vingegaard dropping the others earlier on the climb.

Despite his great ride today, Almeida is still only 5th on GC, after the time he lost in yesterday's TTT. He’s still behind Vingegaard, Jorgenson, Skjelmose and Lipowitz.

It also seems as though Aleksandr Vlasov has yet to make it to the finish.

Some GC candidates to have lost a heap of time today:

Iván Romeo at 1-07

Felix Gall at 1-56

Ben O’Connor at 2-10

Neilson Powless at 2-16

That final climb turned out to be very selective, with only 13 riders finishing within a minute of Almeida.

Vingegaard might not have won the stage, but he does take the yellow jersey from his Visma teammate Jorgenson.

Other GC riders have had much worse days. We're only now seeing Ben O'Connor reach the finish, minutes down.

The leaders came in dribs and drabs but only seconds separated them.

Vingegaard was 1 second behind Vingegaard, Skelmose and Martinez one second behind him, Lipowitz and Jorgenson four seconds behind them.

Just as he did two years ago on this climb, Vingegaard is caught and defeated by a UAE Team Emirates rider having led on its lower slopes. 

Vingegaard is 2nd, Skjelmose 3rd, Martinez 4th

JOAO ALMEIDA WINS

Almeida wins!

Almeida is catching him!

They have Vingegaard in their sights. Can he hold on?

McNulty joins them.

Jorgenson,Martinez, Skjelmose and Lipowitz are with him.

Almeida accelerates

1KM TO GO

Vingegaard has 7 seconds as he goes under the flamme rouge.

Almeida leads the chase behind, with Jorgenson glued to his wheel.

10 seconds for Vingegaard, with 1500m to go.

Martinez is about to be caght by a chasing group led by Almeida.

2KM TO GO

Vingegaard is all out alone and committed. 

And now Vingegaard has dropped Martinez.

The two have caught and passed Foss.

Vingegaard accelerates again in an attempt to drop Martinez.

VINGEGAARD ATTACKS

A big move from Vingegaard! He's countered Martinez and the two are clear together. 

Martinez attacks again.

Foss is only a few seconds ahead now, as they come to within 2.5km of the finish.

Still in this reduced peloton is Vingegaard, Jorgenson, McNulty, Lipowitz, Martinez, Arensman, Storer, Castrillo, Skjelmose, Van Wilder, plus only a few others.

Almeida accelerates at the front.

They've been brought back.

Martinez is clearly feeling better, having looked on the brink of being dropped earlier.

They have a gap of a few seconds.

Lenny Martinez attacks, followed by Vingegaard.

Pedersen is at last done. He's been dropped out the back.

The pace slackens. This could be good news for Foss if the race plays out in this stop / start pattern.

Jorgenson is on his wheel, bringing with him the rest of the peloton.

Attack from Lipowitz.

The other last remaining riders from the break, Leknessund and Gachignard, are being brought back.

5KM TO GO

Pedersen is also closing the gap between the peloton and Foss, which has come down to 25 seconds.

It's Mads Pedersen who's causing all the damage. Some effort by a non-climber.

The peloton is down to about 20 riders.

Riders being dropped from the peloton - including Powless. That's a surprise, as he's targetting GC.

Now Tarling has finished, leaving Foss as the lone leader.

Tarling's pace has seen himself and Foss go clear from the rest.

40 seconds behind, UAE Team Emirates bring the peloton to the foot of the climb.

LA LOGE DES GARDES

Josh Tarling leads the break onto the final climb.

Moniquet was dropped from the group, and is back in the peloton.

The addition to the Ineos trio has given the break some new impetus. They’ve grown the gap up to 30 seconds.

We’re approaching the final climb. Two years ago, Jonas Vingegaard was defeated by both Tadej Pogačar and David Gaudu, having burnt too many matches with an early attack. Will he redeem himself today?

10KM TO GO

Just 25 seconds between the leading 8 and the peloton as we enter the final 10km.

Tarling, Foss and Swift have caught up to the leaders, forming a new front group of 8.

Mads Pedersen is setting a fierce pace in the peloton for Lidl-Trek. Their leader Matthias Skjelmose must fancy his chances today, and are taking the race to Visma-Lease a Bike.

The updated rankings:

1 Thomas Gachignard 17

2 Alexandre Delettre 12 

3 Andreas Leknessund 9

4 Samuel Fernández 6

5 Jonas Abrahamsen 4

The break has reached the top, and once again Gachignard takes the points, extending his lead in the KOM rankings.

The gaps between the groups are all coming down. 15 seconds between the leading quitet and the chasing Ineos group, and 25 seconds between the latter and the peloton.

Lenny Martinez is struggling, barely able to stay in touch at the back of the peloton This is even worse news for Bahrain Victorious, who have already lost Santiago Buitrago.

UAE are also helping Lidl set the pace. No sign of Visma yet.

CÔTE DE LA CHABANNE

They're on the day's penultimate climb. This one's 2.7km long and averages 5.2%. 

As are many other riders one-by-one, as the Lidl set a fierce pace.

Pavel Sivakov's having a rough time. He's been dropped out of the peloton.

Ben Swift is not one of the readers to rejoin Leknessund. He's dropped back to help pace his Ineos teammates Foss and Tarling.

Four of the original breakaway riders have rejoined Leknessund.

Steff Cras has left the race. No sign of him being involed in a crash though. 

Foss, Tarling and Smith are 1 minute behind the leaders, and 1 minute ahead of the peloton. 

The peloton is being thinned out as the pace is up. It's strung out in single file. 

20KM TO GO

Still 2 minutes between Leknessund and the peloton. No sign yet of whereabouts Foss, Tarling and Smith are in between. 

Leknessund seems to have sensed an opportunity here. He’s gone clear from the rest of the break, and still has 2 minutes on the peloton. Could he hold on for the stage win? These are such strange circumstances its difficult to know how riders’ legs will respond.

Scenes from earlier when the race was neutralised.

There’s much more intensity in the peloton now than before the neutralisation. Lidl-Trek are leading it with Mads Pedersen. 

The break is breaking up. Leknessund is out on his own, Guernalec also alone behind him at about 5 seconds. 

Some riders will find it hard to get back up to speed after that delay, what with the debilitating effects of the cold. One of those riders appears to be Albanese, who has been dropped out of the break.

At the top of this uncategorised climb are bonus seconds, which Leknessund takes. That increases his lead as virtual GC leader.

The riders have an unclassified climb to ride up as they been racing again This could at least help them warm up again.

Foss, Tarling and Smith are also riding in between the two groups.

28KM TO GO

And now the peloton start.

Only the breakaway are riding at the moment. The others are still being held up until the gap is as it was.

RACE RESUMES

We're back racing again!

It seems to have been decided that the size of the gaps when the race was neutralised will determine how they restart. So the leading 7 will set off first, then Tarling Foss and Smith 1-35 later, then the peloton 45 seconds after them.

The riders are being told that the will be racing again in two minutes.

The riders in the peloton are organising themselves ahead of what seems to be a restart. Sme stragglers from the back are returning to it, while others go to and from team cars.

The peloton has also been stopped. It seems the organisers are determining where each group will set off from.

It looks like we’re going to have a race - the breakaway riders have just been told that they will race again soon.

Encouragingly, the weather does seem to be getting better. It’s still very cold (about 2 degrees apparently), but it’s not raining, and the sun is poking out from behind the clouds.

Here was the scene earlier when the race stopped. This is Thomas Gachignard in the breakaway, trying to warm up.

A problem at the moment is that most of the terrain since the neutralisation has been gently downhill. The organisers must be reluctant for them to race on downhill roads given the safety problems, but might be hoping things will be safer once the road goes uphill again.

You can also tell how cold it is by the number of riders trying desperately to warm up by shaking their arms and bodies.

We can see clearly why the organisers were worried enough to neutralise the race. Some of the roads the riders are passing over now do look very slippery.

Both the break and the peloton are moving, but the race remains neutralised as we await for a decision to be made as to how, or if, the race will continue. 

"What a day to be a bike rider" says Alpecin's Tibor Del Grosso to the TV moto camera, with a wry smile. 

While hailstones and sleet are no longer falling, it’s still freezing out there. In fact, it looks like it is snowing at the finish.

The race is still neutralised though. The breakaway riders are following the race car.

As for Tarling, Foss and Smith, who were in between the peloton and the breakaway, they're riding and have joined the break. 

Though the peloton are still stationary, the breakaway riders are back up and riding, albeit not racing. This is going to be hard for the organisers to determine when and where everyone will resume racing.

Jonas Vingegaard is sat in his team car, keeping as warm as possible before we start again. 

The riders in the peloton have all stopped now, but are scattered all across the road as they go to their team cars to get wet weather gear and the like.

The riders appear to want more information as to what is happening. In summary, it seems the race was neutralised after the race jury deemed the roads dangerously slippy, but it will restart.

There’s a race moto at the front of the peloton, with which a Visma rider, Lidl rider and Movistar is talking with. The talks look quite heated.

Here's an idea of how bad the weather is out there.

Sleet has been falling.

Apparently the road is considered too dangerous, with ice forming on it.

RACE NEUTRALISED

The riders are coming to a stop, the weather is too bad.

It's not just raining, it's raining heavily. Lots of uncomfortable looking riders on the road. 

Foss and Tarling have caught up to Swift, who was dropped out the break on the previous climb.

The weather is taking a turn for the worse. The rain is falling, and riders are dropping back to team cars to take jackets. 

50M TO GO

The gap between the break and the peloton is 2-25, while the Foss/Tarling duo is 30 seconds ahead of the peloton.

And the new KOM rankings:

1 Thomas Gachignard 14

2 Alexandre Delettre 12 

3 Andreas Leknessund 7

4 Samuel Fernández 6

5 Jonas Abrahamsen 4

The rankings at the top of the category 2 Côte du Canon:

1 Gachignard

2 Leknessund

3 Planckaert

4 Albanese

For the fourth time today, Gachignard goes over the climb first. He is now the virtual King of the Mountains.

Foss is close on GC, in 11th at 39 seconds, and is a good climber, so will be considered a danger.

That's increased the pace in the peloton as Visma try to keep it under control. More riders are being dropped, including Tim Merlier.

It's Tarling and Foss.

Attack in the peloton! 2 Ineos riders are going up the road.

Up ahead, Smith has been dropped out of the break.

The pace isn't especially high in the peloton though, with no team upping the pace.

CÔTE DU CANON

Some riders are being dropped out of the peloton on the climb, including Fabio Jakobsen.

Sean Flynn has a mechanical, just as the peloton begin this climb.

No respite for the breakaway riders, who are climbing again already. The Côte du Canon is also the hardest they’ve faced today, its slopes of 6.5% over 3.5km enough to give it a category two classification.

The peloton reach the top of the climb now, 2-45 after the leaders. 

Here's the new KOM standings:

1 Alexandre Delettre 12 

2 Thomas Gachignard 9

3 Samuel Fernández 6

4 Andreas Leknessund 4

5 Jonas Abrahamsen 4

Gachignard is nearing enough points to take the polka-dot jersey from his TotalEnergies teammate Alexandre Delettre. He'll overtake him if he's first over the next cimb. 

Gachignard again leads the break over the top of the climb to take the points uncontested. Albanese was 2nd this time, and Guernalec 3rd. 

CÔTE DE LA CROIX BRUYÈRE

Up ahead the race goes on, as the riders climb Côte de la Croix Bruyère.

Buitrago has abandoned the race. That’s a real shame as he would have been one of the favourites for the stage win today, as well as a high place on GC.

The Colombian was returning to the peloton having dropped back with a mechanical.

CRASH

Crash for Santiago Buitrago. He's down and looks like he might struggle to continue.

60KM TO GO

3 minutes for the break as we enter the final 60km. They will start climbing the Côte de la Croix Bruyère very soon.

A couple of punctures in the peloton, as both Josh Tarling and Robin Froidevaux are held up. 

There are four climbs in the final 60km, starting with the category three Côte de la Croix Bruyère which is about 10km away.

70KM TO GO

Still a gap of about 3-30 for the leaders. That may start to come down in the following kilometres, as we enter the final hill-dense phase of the stage. 

Here's the updated KOM classification:

1 Alexandre Delettre 12 

2 Thomas Gachignard 6

3 Samuel Fernández 6

4 Andreas Leknessund 4

5 Jonas Abrahamsen 4

80KM TO GO

The break has also extended its lead on that climb, up to 3-30.

At the top of the climb, Gachignard once again took maximum points, followed by Leknessund and Moniquet.

Here's the peloton earlier today, being controlled by Visma-lease a Bike. With both the yellow jersey and overall race favourite, the onus is clearly on them to chase the breakaway. 

CÔTE DE LA BRUYÈRE

The leaders are on the climb now.

90KM TO GO

The gap's still about 3 minutes, as the situation on the road remains stable.

Not long until the break will be climbing again, as they approach the foot of the Côte de la Bruyère. This one’s rated category three, lasts 3.9 km and averages 4.7%.

100KM TO GO

2-40 for the leaders, as they enter the final 100km of the stage.

Here are the 8 riders in the break.

As things stand, Andreas Leknessund is the race’s virtual leader, having started the day 1-26 down on Jorgenson. He’s Uno-X Mobility’s top GC hopeful, and Visma-Lease a Bike and the rest of the peloton will have to be careful to contain him.

News of a DNF, as Cofidis' Sam Maisonobe pulls out of the race. 

110KM TO GO

The gap's come down a bit, to closer to 2-30, as the peloton keeps matters under control on this flat section. 

Over in Italy, Tirreno-Adriatico is continuing today. You can follow all the action here for what is a horrible rainy day.

There’s a long flat section now until the day’s second climb, Côte de la Bruyère, which is over 30km away. After that the climbs start to come thick and fast, but the riders can take it easy in the meantime.

120KM TO GO

The break has grown its lead to 3 minutes on the descent, the biggest it's been all day. 

With Delettre absent from the break today, and four more categorised climbs to come before the summit finish at La Loge de Gardes, there’s a chance for the riders in the breakaway to take the polka-dot jersey today.

Here’s the updated KOM classification:

1 Alexandre Delettre 12 points

2 Samuel Fernández 6 points

3 Jonas Abrahamsen 4 points

4 Matteo Jorgenson 3 points

5 Thomas Gachignard 3 points

Gachignard takes the three points on offer at the top of the climb, with Leknessund beind claiming two and Moniquet the final one.

130KM TO GO

As they near the top, the break's lead is up to 2-30 over the peloton.

The breakaway riders are nearing the top. Who will go for the KOM points on offer?

Conditions out there are cold again, but no sign of rain or any strong winds. 

Visma-Lease a Bike take responsibility for leading the bunch as they also take on the climb, but are happy to let the gap grow to 2-30.

CÔTE DE LAVOINE

The break has formed, but the hard work isn’t done yet. They’ve just started climbing the first hill of the day, but long (7.6km) albeit shallow (4%) Côte de Lavoine.

140KM TO GO

The 8 riders have a lead of just under one minute. It seems the peloton is content to let this one go. 

This might be the break of the day. They've been allowed a gap by the peloton.

Sylvain Moniquet (Cofidis), Dion Smith (Intermarché-Wanty), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), Thibault Guernalec (Arkéa - B&B Hotels), Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education - EasyPost), Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers), Edward Planckaert (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Thomas Gachignard (TotalEnergies) are the 8 riders in the lead. 

They've been joined by four more riders, but the peloton isn't letting them go.

A new lead group of four has formed, and has a small gap. 

Samuel Leroux (Total Energies) is struggling with this intense start. The Frenchman is clearly still in pain from the crash suffered two days ago, and has been dropped out of the peloton already.

Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers), Marco Haller (Tudor Pro Cycling), Rémi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ) and Thomas Gachignard (TotalEnergies) are some of the latest riders trying to get up the road. 

Those riders have all been brought back, and the attacks continue.

150KM TO GO

Three riders are setting off after the lead group. They are only a few seconds behind them, and only a few seconds ahead of the peloton. This is far from a settled race situation yet.  

Eight have succeeded in joining them, meaning the leading group is now made up of 13 riders.

More riders have attacked out the peloton in an attempt to join that quintet.

A group of five has managed to gain a small gap of a few seconds.

Attacks are being made but for now none have been successful. 

All eyes are on Jonas Vingegaard today. Here he was at the start of the day, signing autographs.

The peloton remains together for now, with no break forming. 

Tim Merlier at the start with Matteo Jorgenson, who he relinquished his yellow jersey to yesterday. He swaps yellow for green, as leader of the points classification.

164KM TO GO

And they're off!

Make that two riders who have dropped out of the race. Uno-X Mobility’s Amund Grondahl Jansen is also out.

There’s one rider absent from the start today - Julien Bernard of Lidl-Trek, leaving their GC leader Matthias Skjelmose down a domestique.

Here's Matteo Jogenson at the start today, wearing the yellow jersey. 

We'll be racing soon - the riders are making their way through the neutralised zone.

Vingegaard’s main rival for the yellow jersey may even come from within his own team. Matteo Jorgenson currently leads the GC ahead of him thanks to the six bonus seconds picked up on stages one and two, and Visma has not stated that they’re backing one rider over the other. It will be intriguing to see how the two race together today.

The hot favourite remains Jonas Vingegaard. He’s the best climber on paper, and is in form having won Volta ao Algarve. And even before a mountain has been climbed, he finds himself ahead of all of his GC rivals following his Visma-Lease a Bike team’s success in the time trial yesterday.

Yesterday’s team time trials saw lots of gaps open up between the GC favourites, but their climbing legs still haven’t been tested. We’ll get a real sense of who is in contention to win this Paris-Nice today.

This is the first day of climbing at the 2025 Paris-Nice, with five smaller climbs leading up to the big category one summit finish at La Loge des Gardes.

Hello and welcome to stage four of Paris-Nice.