On a course designed for breakaway specialists, it was the young Cannes native Lenny Martinez who triumphed at the summit of Côte-Saint-André. This 5th stage took a toll on the favorites.
A stage for escapists, or even a Flemish classic. That’s what awaited the riders in this 83rd edition of Paris-Nice. On the agenda: 203 km around the Coteaux de la Nièvre (Loire) featuring seven climbs, including five in the last 48 kilometers known as the wall sector. A perfect stage profile for a rider like Julian Alaphilippe with a finish at La Côte-Saint-André (1.7 km at 10.8% average). A grueling climb that many of the general classification favorites feared.
While the breakaway riders of the day, Ben Swift (INEOS Grenadiers) and Thibault Gruel (Groupama FDJ), never managed to create a significant gap, they were joined about forty kilometers from the finish by Norwegian Tobias Foss (INEOS Grenadiers). The time trial specialist, in great form in recent weeks, had already launched a counterattack on yesterday’s stage.
And like the day before, it was once again Mads Pedersen who brought back the peloton. A peloton that was significantly reduced to about ten kilometers from the finish under the impetus of the favorites’ teams. Once Tobias Foss was caught in the penultimate descent, the yellow jersey group tackled the Côte-Saint-André. A climb whose difficulty increases as the meters go by. On this terrain, the race leader lost ground. Having fallen earlier in the stage, the race leader couldn’t keep up with the pace of the punchers.
The Azurians in the mix!
The Danish rider wasn’t the only one to lose time during this short but very intense effort. Mattias Skjelmose also couldn’t keep up with the best. Only Matteo Jorgenson managed to break away with Lenny Martinez and Clément Champoussin. The two Nice natives shone when the gradient ranged between 13 and 18%.
The strongest was Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious). Well hidden in the peloton all day, the Azurian made his move at the base of the final climb. In the slipstream of the defending champion Matteo Jorgenson, who claimed the yellow jersey, the Cannes native timed his attack perfectly to win solo. “In the last climb, I knew I wanted to go with 150 meters to go. I saw we were just three, and I thought: ‘I can’t mess up now, I have to give it everything.’ And when I accelerated, looked back, and saw the big gaps, I couldn’t believe it, it was incredible. When I raised my arms… it was an amazing moment,” Lenny Martinez shared at the finish. A magnificent victory that marks a very promising start to the season.
The other good news is the excellent form of Clément Champoussin. Although the Astana team’s co-leader was slightly hindered in the last 100 meters, he managed to find an opening to overtake the new race leader and secure second place on the day. “It was very hard. I was well positioned at the start, and then I really hung on until the end. I finished 2nd, so I’m quite satisfied. It feels good, but there are still a lot of stages left, so we have to stay calm and focused”, said the Nice native, who can legitimately hope to achieve a good result in the overall standings of this Paris-Nice.
In the standings, it’s Matteo Jorgenson who takes the lead with a 22-second advantage over Jonas Vingegaard. Lenny Martinez climbs to fifth place, 55 seconds behind the yellow jersey, four places ahead of Clément Champoussin, who is 1 minute 22 seconds behind in the general classification.
Tomorrow, the favorites should have a more relaxed day as the stage is promised to the sprinters.