Pogačar fights to stage win & yellow in Paris-Nice

The setting of the 12th victory of the season of the Emirati team was the final climb of La Loge des Gardes (6,8 km at 7%) at Paris-Nice.  After some intense work by his teammates, Pogačar countered an attack by Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) at -4,2 km; the duo were caught by the first chasing group after a few hundred meters and in that moment David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) went solo.

Pogačar waited until there were 2.3km to go and then attacked, bridging the gap to the French rider, while Vingegaard struggled in the attempt to reach the two riders.
UAE Team Emirates’ captain and Gaudu then sprinted for the victory and the Slovenian obtained his 6th success in 2023 and the leaders jersey.

Pogačar: “Today’s stage was really a nervous one all day, especially in the flat sector where we faced crosswinds.
My team did a perfect job all day long and, on the final climb, Felix Grossschartner was superb.
When Gaudu attacked, I knew it was important not to give him too much space, I knew I had good legs so I attacked in order to catch him and the I won.
Before that, Vingegaard had attacked and I waited a bit before doing my move in a tough sector the climb: he did not close immediately and then he lost seconds.
It was not in my mind to take the leader’s jersey today, but you can not say no to yellow, so I happy for the jersey”.

Stage 4 results
1. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) 4:01:17
2. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +1”
3. Gino Mader (Bahrain-Victorious) +34”

General classification after stage 4
1. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) 11:55:00
2. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +10”
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +44”