Paris-Nice

Beaujolais, the historical province of France inhabited by the Romans thousands of years ago and renowned for its wine production, welcomed the bunch Wednesday afternoon with a tasty menu consisting of seven classified climbs. Among them, Mont Brouilly, where a young Julian Alaphilippe time trialled to victory four years ago, a resounding win that brought him the yellow jersey at the end of the day.

This time, another Deceuninck – Quick-Step Frenchman was in the spotlight towards the end of the stage. Runner-up in the Gien individual time trial, Rémi Cavagna attacked on the last descent and quickly opened up a gap, which he stretched out to 50 seconds by the time he reached the foot of Chiroubles (7.3km, 6%), proving once again there’s a reason why he is called the “TGV of Clermont-Ferrand”. But luck wasn’t on his side as a mechanical spelled the end of Rémi’s ambitions and with six kilometers to go he got caught by the peloton, from where Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) took a solo win at the top of the ascent.

Mattia Cattaneo concluded the day as the team’s highest-placed rider, while stage 1 victor Sam Bennet remained within reach of the green jersey, which he has a chance of donning again at the end of the flat stage 5 to Bollène, a small town in Vaucluse making its first appearance in 50 years at Paris-Nice.

Photo credit: ©Bas Czerwinski/Getty Images