photo credits @ Paris-Nice
Today’s stage 5 of Paris-Nice was filled with steep ascents all the way to the summit finish at La Côte-Saint-André, favoring lightweight climber Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), who surged to victory inside the last 100 meters after an animated finale.
The young French rider got the better of Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and resisted countryman Clément Champoussin (XDS-Astana) to take his most prestigious victory to date.
Meanwhile, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) crumbled along the final slopes, after the Danish rider crashed earlier in the stage, relegated him to a paltry 16th place finish with a gap of 26’’.
As a result, the yellow and white jersey was returned to his teammate Matteo Jorgenson, pushing back Vingegaard to 2nd place in the overall standings (+22’’).
Race Highlights
After repeated attacks and counter-attacks, Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) and Thibaud Gruel (Groupama-FDJ) finally jettisoned the field after 73 kilometers of racing.
Receiving clemency from the peloton, the duo was abale to open up an advantage of just over three minutes, while Vingegaard hit the deck on the climb of Côte de Trèves.
With the pace on high along the Côte du Château Jaune and the Côte de Sibuze, Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers) managed to bridge his way to the two leaders, who were still clinging to a gap of just under a minute as they reached the Côte de Chavagneux with 30 kilometers to go.
At one point, Foss took the virtual lead as the trio’s margin stretched out to 1:10 with 20 kilometers remaining.
However, a brutal pace set by the peloton on the penultimate climb of the Côte d’Arzay, eventually reined in Foss et al with 4 kilometers to go.
As Vingegaard struggled on the steeper slopes of the final climb, Jorgenson set his own pace at the front, opening up a slight gap with 300 meters left.
However, Harold Tejada (XDS-Astana), followed by his teammate Champoussin and Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) brought the curtains down on the American rider’s efforts during the last 100 meters.
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