Paris-Nice 2024: Buitrago cheers on Mont Brouilly - Evenepoel outpaces Roglic
Thomas Goldmann
· 06.03.2024
Perfect day for the Bahrain-Victorious team. After Phil Bauhaus' stage win at Tirreno-Adriatico Santiago Buitrago won the Paris-Nice mountain finish on Mont Brouilly shortly afterwards. After 183 kilometres, the 24-year-old Colombian mountain specialist triumphed ahead of Luke Plapp (Team Jayco-AlUla) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek). Thanks to his strong performance, Plapp takes over the overall leader's yellow jersey.
Paris-Nice 2024: Santiago Buitrago and Luke Plapp set themselves apart
Plapp had already pulled away on the penultimate climb of the day. Buitrago caught up a little later. The Australian and the Colombian went into the final climb with a small lead over the group of favourites, where Buitrago left Plapp behind and won the stage.
It was an amazing day for Team Bahrain-Victorious with the victory here and at Tirreno-Adriatico - Santiago Buitrago in the official winner interview
Plapp made it to the finish just ahead of the group of favourites. There, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) stepped up the pace in the final metres. Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) was unable to follow the Belgian. Only Mattias Skjelmose rode at eye level with Evenepoel and was even stronger in the sprint. Roglic reached the finish two seconds behind Evenepoel.
Paris-Nice 2024 - Results: the top 10 of stage 4
- Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) 4:25:52
- Luke Plapp (Team Jayco-AlUla) +0:10
- Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +0:37
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:37
- Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:39
- Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R Mondiale) +0:39
- Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:39
- Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:39
- Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan Team) +0:43
- Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) +0:46
The current standings in the overall standings
- Luke Plapp (Team Jayco-AlUla) 13:15:04
- Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:13
- Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) +0:27
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +0:29
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:30
- Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:40
- Chris Harper (Team Jayco-AlUla) +0:46
- Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:52
- Rigoberto Uran (EF Education EasyPost) +0:54
- Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +1:02
How the 4th stage of Paris-Nice 2024 went
With Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny), there was already a prominent retirement to report before the start. Michael Matthews (Team Jayco-AlUla) and Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) had to abandon Paris-Nice during the stage.
It took a long time before the day's breakaway group was formed. In the early stages of the stage, Jonas Rutsch (EF Education EasyPost), who had to give up his mountain jersey to Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergeis) two days ago, was one of those who tried.
Breakaway group of four riders
Rutsch was caught again. His rival Burgaudeau made it into the leading group. He was joined by Stefan Bissegger (EF Education EasyPost), Jasper De Buyst (Lotto-Dstny) and Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan Team). Their maximum lead was around 3:30 minutes.
With 57 kilometres to go, Scaroni broke away from the quartet at the front and moved on with Burgaudeau before dropping the Frenchman a short time later. In the peloton, Bora-Hansgrohe set a fast pace and gradually collected the escapees. With 35 kilometres to go, Scaroni was the last rider in the escape group.
Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel sprint for bonus seconds
On the descent after the first passage of Mount Brouilly (2nd category), the peloton split up. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), one of the top riders, had missed the breakaway and was in the second group. Shortly before the intermediate sprint, the second group caught up with the first. At the intermediate sprint, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) secured six bonus seconds, Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) another four seconds.
On the penultimate climb Col du Fut d'Avenas (Les Chappes - 1st category) Luke Plapp (Team Jayco-AlUla) tried to break away with Louis Vervaeke (Soudal - Quick Step). Vervaeke soon had to let Plapp go. Shortly before the crest, events came thick and fast. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), one of the favourites, crashed. Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) was also caught up in the crash.
Santiago Buitrago and Luke Plapp team up
A short time later, Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) attacked and formed a leading duo with Plapp. The two front runners contested the descent with a lead of around 20 seconds over the field of favourites led by UAE Team Emirates, into which Felix Gall returned, while David Gaudu was unable to catch up again.
At the end of the descent, UAE Team Emirates stopped leading the race. The duo's lead grew to 30 seconds. After a brief lull, Ineos Grenadiers took command of the group of favourites, with UAE again leading sporadically. Nevertheless, Plapp and Buitrago gained a further ten seconds in the lead.
Remco Evenepoel attacks, Primoz Roglic with difficulty
On the final climb, Buitrago pushed the pace again 1.3 kilometres before the finish and overtook his Australian companion. While the battle for the stage win was thus decided, Soudal - Quick Step took command of the group of favourites. Evenepoel himself stepped up the pace in the final kilometre. Initially, Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Felix Gall rode at eye level with the time trial world champion.
Only Mattias Skjelmose was able to counter Evenepoel's second attack. The Danish champion even outsprinted the Belgian champion. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) led the next group, which also included Primoz Roglic, to the finish two seconds behind.
