As it happened: Yellow jersey changes hands on steep finish of Paris-Nice stage 5

You join us as we await the beginning of stage five, a long slog of about 200km through hilly terrain that will end with a steep wall of Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Sciez.

The final climb to the finish lasts 1.7km, and averages a brutal 10.8%. It’s a ‘wall’ in a similar vein to the Mur de Huy, and will require strong climbing legs, a quick punch, and good timing so as not to fade before the top.

There was a time when a climb like this had Julian Alaphilippe’s name written all over it, but the Frenchman isn’t quite the force he once was, and hasn’t won a race since last July. Nevertheless, he’s shown some signs of form, and must still be counted among the candidates for the stage win.

He and the rest of the bunch have begun riding, and are passing through the neutralised section.

On such a hilly route, and with so many riders now out of GC contention, you sense this could be a day for the breakaway to succeed. We can therefore expect a real battle to get up the road once the flag is waved.

Most of the climbing is done during the second half of the stage, however. Though they will climb an uncategorised rise from the start, and take on the category three Côte de Saint-Polgues shortly after, the majority of the opening 20km are downhill, while the second of the day’s seven official climbs isn’t tackled until over halfway into the stage.

197KM TO GO

And they're off!

Once again it’s very cold out, just like yesterday when the weather got so bad the organisers deemed it necessary to neutralise the race for a while. Some riders weren’t happy with how that was handled - more on that later.

There are already lots of attacks firing out of the peloton, but nobody is being allowed up the road easily. 

Here were the jersey wearers at the start of the stage - albeit with their jerseys covered up, what with the cold weather. Jonas Vingegaard is in yellow, Tim Merlier in green, and Matthias Skjelmose in white after yesterday’s GC shake up.

190KM TO GO

The peloton is still together, with no break having been formed. 

CÔTE DE SAINT-POLGUES

There’s a chance for riders with strong climbing legs to go clear, as they ascend the day's first climb, the 1.5km Côte de Saint-Polgues, averaging 5.6%.

Some riders are falling out of the peloton already, incuding Fabio Jakobsen.

Kobe Goossens (Intermarché-Wanty) is the first rider to the top of the climb.

He took three points in the King of the Mountains Classification, with Guillermo Thomas Silva two and Georg Steinhauser one. 

None of those riders had previously taken any points, so the KOM rankings remain as they were:

1 João Almeida 20

2 Thomas Gachignard 17

3 Alexandre Delettre 12 

4 Jonas Vingegaard 10

5 Andreas Leknessund 9

180KM TO GO

Plenty of attacks are being made, but nothing is sticking.

Here's a first look at the riders out on the road.

Guillaume Martin has just made it back into the peloton, having had a mechanical earlier. The Frenchman is in line for a high overall finish having finished 16th yesterday, moving him up to 16th on GC.

Kobe Goossens was at the front of the race briefly, but he, like ever other attacker so far, was brought back. 

The riders are done descending, and are on flat roads for now. This could change the type of rider best equipped to get up the road.

Neilson Powless is one rider trying to get into the break. He’ll have more freedom to do so having dropped out of GC contention yesterday.

170KM TO GO

Still the battle to get into the break goes on, with no sign of it relenting.

A 7-man group briefly formed, but they too have been brought back.

160KM TO GO

Ten riders in a new group try their luck, but they too are unsuccessful. Still we have no break.

Three more riders have attacked…and they have a gap!

The three riders are Michael Matthews, Sean Flynn and Anders Skaarseth, and they have gap of almost 30 seconds.

In pursuit of them are four more riders: Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Anthon Turgis (Total Energies) Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros).

Schmid, Armirail and Turgis are 20 seconds behind the leading trio, and Nicolau 10 seconds behind them.

Ineos are leading the peloton, and they're not happy to let these breaks go.

The chasing trio have caught the leading trio, forming what is a very strong group of quality puncheurs.

150KM TO GO

The fight goes on, though, as the peloton remains just 18 seconds behind.

 Nicolau was unable to bridge to the leaders, and is back in the peloton.

We've done an hour of racing now, and already 49.5km have been completed. This has been full-on racing.

A reminder of the 6 leaders:

Michael Matthews

Sean Flynn

Anders Skaarseth

Mauro Schmid

Anthony Turgis

Bruno Armirail

140KM TO GO

There's still only a handful of seconds for the leaders, who aren't being let go by the peloton.

The lead group has also grown in size, the 6 having been joined byJosh Tarling, Oscar Riesebeek, Warren Barguil and Jonas Abrahamsen. 

Strength in numbers hasn't helped though - the break has been caught.

Tudor Pro Cycling was the team who shut the move down. Clearly they fancy Julian Alaphilippe's chances today.

So the attacks commence again, starting with a Cofidis rider.

Clément Izquierdo is the Cofidis rider, but he's been brought back already. 

The riders are now ascending an uncategorised climb which is followed by another uncategorised uphill drag. This might be a chance for riders to go clear.

130KM TO GO

Ben Swift and Thibaud Gruel are the latest riders to try an attack. Will they succeed where everyone else has failed?

They have a small gap. Behind, Callum Scotson (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) is chasing them.

Tobias Bayer of Alpecin-Deceuninck is also chasing them.

Gruel and Swift are 10 seconds ahead of Scotson, 18 ahead of Bayer, and 33 ahead of the peloton.

More moves from the peloton, as Mauro Schmid and Kobe Goossens again try their luck. They've joined Bayer and Scotson, and have formed a quartet in pursuit of Swift and Gruel.

They've been caught by the peloton, leaving just Swift and Gruel out in front.

The peloton aren't letting them go, and have them at just 15 seconds.

While we wait for the break to form, let's look at some of the fall out from yesterday's stage.

Jonas Vingegaard might have taken the yellow jersey, but was adamant afterwards in his belief that the stage should have been cancelled.

120KM TO GO

30 seconds now for the two leaders, Ben Swift and Thibaud Gruel. They've been out there a while now, at least relative to all of today's other attackers.

In contrast to Jonas Vingegaard, stage winner João Almeida felt the right decision was made to race on, reasoning that “cycling is not a sport for softies.”

A chase group did form out of the peloton, but Visma-Lease a Bike were having none of it, and brought them back. Still Swift and Gruel lead the race up the road.  

Here are Swift and Gruel leading the race.

And here's the peloton chasing them close behind.

110KM TO GO

The gap's down to 20 seconds. Again, it's Tudor Pro Cycling pulling the peloton.

They’re motoring along now as they descend back down the draggy uphill they’ve just reached the top of. They’re headed towards the foot of the next official climb, Côte de Trèves (2.3 km à 5.8%).

This descent is proving beneficial to the leading duo. They’ve grown their lead to over a minute - the highest anyone has managed all day.

100KM TO GO

1-10 for Swift and Gruel. Is this now the break of the day?

CÔTE DE TREVES

That's it, the peloton has sat up. Swift and Gruel at last have been let go, and they climb the Côte de Trèves with a gap of nearly three minutes. 

Swift and Gruel sweep up the points at the top of the climb in that order, while Gachignard moves to the front of the peloton to take the remaining one on offer.

Here's the updated standings. Gachignard is closing the gap to Almeida (who took the jersey thanks to the points on offer at yesterday's summit finish).

1 João Almeida 20

2 Thomas Gachignard 18

3 Alexandre Delettre 12 

4 Jonas Vingegaard 10

5 Andreas Leknessund 9

CRASH

Jonas Vingegaard has crashed.

Vingegaard required a bike change, but is back up and riding.

He's now back in the bunch.

Here is Vingegaard just after that fall. He doesn't look stressed, nor hurt.

Here's Vingegaard getting an energy gell from his team car after the incident. He seems to have a small cut near his lips.

80KM TO GO

Up ahead, the two leaders still have a healthy lead, up to nearly three minutes.

The uphill finish today might be short but it’s more than steep enough to ensure a GC battle, so Vingegaard can’t afford to be too badly hurt if he is to avoid losing time. 

The peloton, much calmer now than it was earlier.

Ryan Gibbons has abandoned the race. That leaves Lidl-Trek down to just five riders, which isn't much to support the GC bid of leader Matthias Skjelmose, who is currently ranked third overall. 

Now Fabio Jakobsen has pulled out. He was having a tough time earlier today when he was one of the first riders to be dropped out of the peloton, and wasn’t able to get up there in the spurs earlier this week, his highest placing being ninth on stage 2.

Two more riders confirmed as DNFs - Sylvain Moniquet (Cofidis) and Samuel Leroux (Total Energies). It’s a surprise the latter made it so far into this race, given how much he was hurt in a crash a couple of days ago.

Given that only two riders were able to get into the day’s break in the end, it’s advantage the peloton in terms of the stage win. Tudor Pro Cycling are backing Julian Alaphilippe, and are leading the peloton.

70KM TO GO

Tudor are keeping the break under control. With 70km to go, the gap has dipped just below two minutes. 

Though the advantage is with the peloton rather than the break, that doesn’t necessarily mean the stage will be decided on the final climb. There are four climbs to come before then, so plenty of opportunities for earlier attacks.

We will soon be entering the final, climb-intensive phase of the stage. A long, slight uphill drag will take them to the foot of Côte du Château Jaune in about 20km, the first of five climbs inside the final 50km.

Remember that stage four of Tirreno-Adriatico is taking place today. You can follow the action here, where crosswinds is making for fun racing.

60KM TO GO

Only 1-30 for the 2 leaders. The odds are stacked firmly against them.

Here's the peloton, being pulled along by Tudor Pro Cycling.

That was earlier - now the peloton have knocked off the pace, all bunched up with no teams pulling.

The slowing of the pace has seen the break's lead increase a little, to 1-45.

50KM TO GO

Still 1-45 for the break, who are approaching the foot of the Côte du Chateau Jaune. Things will start to get lively soon. 

CÔTE DU CHATEAU JAUNE

The 2 leaders are climbing now. The Côte du Chateau Jaune is, like all of these final five climbs, short and steep, lasting 1.2km and averaging a very tough 9.2%.

The race is on in the peloton. The pace's up massively as teams race for position.

Visma lead the peloton onto the climb, though Vingegaard is further down the peloton away from his teammates.

Visma continue to lead on the climb. They've brought the gap to the leaders down to 1-08.

The leading duo has reached the top, Gruel taking the points ahead of Swift.

Some riders are being dropped out the peloton as they near the top, including many who tired themselves out trying to get into the day's break earlier - Abrahamsen, Turgis and Armirail.

The peloton crest the climb, still 1-08 behind.

UAE Team Emirates and Ineos now at the front with Visma.

Incidentally, it was Red Bull’s Ben Zwiehoff and none of the KOM contenders who took the last point on offer at the top of the climb, meaning there’s no change to the rankings. 

CÔTE DE SIBUZE

The hills come thick and fast from here on in. They’re now climbing Côte de Sibuze, which is again very steep at 8.3%, albeit only for only 1.1km.

Attack from Foss on the climb.

This is a similar move to the one Foss made yesterday, attacking out of the peloton in pursuit of the already-established break.

Foss is up to Gruel and Swift - the latter of whom is of course his Ineos teammate.

Oscar Riesebeek has attacked out of the peloton.

And now Michael Matthews attacks, on the descent of the climb.

I say 'descent' - it's actually still rolling roads and false flats for a little while before the proper downhill.

Matthews is joined by Ivan Romeo, who have joined up with Riesebeek. This is a strong counter-attack.

40KM TO GO

There are about 40 seconds between the 3 leaders and these 3 chasers, who are themselves only a few seconds ahead of the peloton.

At the top of the climb, Gruel took the points ahead of Swift and Foss. He now moves up to 6th on the KOM rankings:

1 João Almeida 20

2 Thomas Gachignard 18

3 Alexandre Delettre 12 

4 Jonas Vingegaard 10

5 Andreas Leknessund 9

6 Thibaud Gruel 8

Riesebeek, Matthews and Romeo are now 10 seconds ahead of the peloton.

Decathlon lead the peloton as they descend towards the foot of Côte de Chavagneux.

Riesebeek, Romeo and Matthews have been brought back by the peloton.

The three riders at the front are still working well together, and have a lead of almost a minute.

CÔTE DE CHAVAGNEUX

They're climbing again, this time for 1.1km at 8.2%. 

Foss has gone clear on his own on the climb.

Decathlon still lead the peloton on the climb, with Jayco nearby.

30KM TO GO

Foss is retaining a lead of 55 seconds over the peloton.

Foss reaches the top, 52 seconds ahead.

Decathlon lead the peloton over the climb. There were no more attacks, but some riders were shelled out of the back.

Gruel and Swift hung on to claim 2 and 1 points respectively at the top of the climb. Here's the new rankings:

1 João Almeida 20

2 Thomas Gachignard 18

3 Alexandre Delettre 12 

4 Thibaud Gruel 10

5 Jonas Vingegaard 10

Swift has since been brought back, and Gruel is about to follow him.

Foss' lead is up to 1-06, which actually makes him the virtual yellow jersey. He's very unlikely to hold that though, what with the climbs to come. 

20KM TO GO

Despite a fast pace in the peloton, Foss is holding on for now, building his lead up to 1-10.

Here was Foss moving away from Gruel on the climb. He's looked very strong these past two days.

Interestingly, Jonas Vingegaard is still further down the bunch from the rest of his Visma teammates, despite the all-important fight for potion as we approach the net climb The Dane has spent much of this stage further back than you’d expect - is he feeling 100% after his crash? Or are Visma now riding for Jorgenson instead?

CÔTE D’ARZAY

Tudor Pro Cycling are at the front as they start the climb.

Foss is further up the climb, 52 seconds ahead.

Attack from Geniets.

He's failed to get away.

He's still trying though, and has strung out the peloton.

Foss reaches the top, his lead down to just 38 seconds.

Visma and Lidl lead the peloton over the top of the climb. The group remains together, with nobody having attacked clear.

Mauro Schmid has managed to go clear just after the summit.

Here's Visma riding at the front, but minus Vingegaard who was further down the peloton.

Schmid has been caught by the peloton.

Foss rolls over the intermediate sprint for 6 bonus seconds. 4 and 2 are on offer for the peloton.

Mads Pedersen took the 4 seconds in defence of his leader Skjelmose, but can't stop Lipowitz coming through third for 2 seconds. 

10KM TO GO

27 seconds now for Foss, ahead of a peloton which is now charging.

Pedersen is putting on the pace, and there's been a split.

Felix Gall has been caught the wrong side of that split, and his Decathlon AG2R team are leading the chase.

There's perhaps only about 40 riders left in the front peloton.

Visma are at the front of this front peloton, and now have Vingegaard with them. We can only assume he's feeling OK after all.

Decathlon have brought Gall and the other dropped riders back into the peloton.

Visma continue to lead up a small uncategorised rise. This is the last uphill until the final climb.

Foss only has 5 seconds now, and is about to be caught.

5KM TO GO

We're nearing the finale - just 3.3km until the start of Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Sciez. It's the hardest climb of the day, with gradients of an eye-watering 10.8% for 1.7km.

Foss has been caught. Everything's in place for an uphill slog sprint to decide the stage win.

Will it be the GC contenders like Vingegaard or Almeida who take the win? Or can someone like Alaphilippe get involved?

Lidl-Trek are leading the peloton. Skjelmose must like the look of this climb.

It looks like there are about 50 or 60 riders left in the peloton.

Pedersen is the rider leading for Lidl-Trek.

Pedersen's pace has again been enough to force a split even before the uphill.

CÔTE DE NOTRE-DAME-DE-SCIEZ

They've begun the climb!

Pedersen leads the peloton onto it, but straight away swings off.

Ineos take over, with Jorgenson and Vingegaard on his wheel.

Now Zingle takes over for Visma.

Jorgenson is on Zingle's wheel, Vingegaard a little further down with Almeida.

Gall has been dropped, among others.

UAE's McNulty takes over from Visma.

Vingegaard is being dropped!

He's really struggling, battling wit his bike to try and stay in the peloton.

His teammate Jorgenson is at the front of the group, and looks strong.

While Vingegaard hasn't been dropped, he's down at the back of the peloton, which are several seconds behind on this steep climb.

Skjelmose is also being dropped. He's lost Vingegaard's wheel.

Now there is daylight between Vingegaard and the front 10 or so rders in the peloton.

Almeida is falling away a bit from the front 8.

Jorgenson is going clear!

2 riders come up to him.

Tejada and Martinez are the two riders.

Martinez attacks!

LENNY MARTINEZ WINS

Vingegaard arrives about 30 seconds down.

Martinez accelerated past Jorgenson in the final few metres to take the win. 

Jorgenson was pipped into third by Champoussin, who's Astana teammate Tejada was fourth.

Lipowitz was next in 5th at 6 seconds, followed by João Almeida in 6th at 7 seconds.

All this means that Jorgenson takes the yellow jersey away from Vingegaard again, after they swapped it the other way the day before. 

It's clear now that Vingegaard must have been hurt in that crash. We've just seen some footage of him at the finish, of him holding his wrist, seemingly in some pain.

As for the stage winner, this is a landmark moment in the career of Lenny Martinez. The 21-year-old has shown great promise already, but this is his first ever win at World Tour level - and he was up against a quality field. 

Vingegaard’s loss is his teammate’s Matteo Jorgenson’s gain. The Dane takes the yellow jersey again following a strong third-place finish today, and is suddenly better established as the team’s outright leader with a lead of 22 seconds over his teammate.

Vingegaard does still remain second on GC behind Jorgenson, but is now clearly nursing injuries. We’ll see if he can recover over the next few days, but it seems a tall order given how gingerly he looked at the finish.

By finishing fifth on the stage, Lipowitz moves up to third overall, and is now arguably Jorgenson and Visma’s biggest threat for the overall title.

It still feels like Almeida is the main danger though. He rode in his usual manner today to slip back only to charge back up for a 6th place finish. He’s now 4th on GC, 40 seconds down.

As well as Lipowitz and Almeida, Martinez and Skjelmose are all also within 1 minute of Jorgenson. 

With Vingegaard injured, and being beaten for two consecutive days, suddenly Visma-Lease a Bike don’t seem to have this race quite as under control as they did post the team time trial.

Another interesting stat - Vingegaard is the only rider in the top 9 who is over the age of 26. This has been a Paris-Nice of youth, illustrated by 21-year-old Martinez's victory today.

A grimacing Jonas Vingegaard crosses the line, down in 16th.

Despite all the work done by Tudor Pro Cycling, Julian Alaphilippe finished down in 11th, only once place ahead of his teammate Michael Storer. Will we ever see him fly up uphill finishes like this as he once did?

Thanks for joining us today! Be sure to keep checking Cyclingnews for updates on the fall-out from today’s stage, as the aftermath of Vingegaard’s crash becomes clear - and tomorrow, where we’ll be back with live coverage of stage 6.