News | Paris-Nice • March 13, 2025
Almeida up to fourth overall at Paris-Nice
Portuguese enjoys first day in polka dot jersey, as the UAE Team Emirates-XRG climber rises to fourth overall with sixth-placed finish on stage 5
João Almeida finished in sixth place on stage 5 of Paris-Nice, with the UAE Team Emirates-XRG climber spending his first day in the polka dot jersey. Worn by the leader of the King of the Mountains Classification, Almeida went into the red and white jersey after his sumptuous stage win on Wednesday, and the 26-year-old remains at the top of the standings heading into Friday.
With his performance on Thursday, meanwhile, Almeida moves up to fourth place in the general classification. After another tough day that brought barely an inch of flatland, the vastly-reduced peloton hit the slopes of the final climb at a ferocious speed, with Almeida followed over the line by teammate Brandon McNulty in seventh.
The lead of the race changed hands from Jonas Vingegaard to Matteo Jorgenson (both Visma-Lease a Bike), with the former in notable difficulty after his earlier crash.
Sticking to task on the climb to La Côte-Saint-André, McNulty moved to the front of the favourites’ group and went to town on distancing those who were struggling behind. Among those was Mattias Skjelmose, who dropped below Almeida in the overall standings by the end of the stage. For Almeida, the Portuguese did not have the same magic in the legs as on La Loge des Gardes, but still battled bravely to come across the line just seven seconds shy of the stage winner, Santiago Buitrago.
Earlier in the stage, UAE Team Emirates-XRG had worked hard to keep Almeida and McNulty away from any hazards, with Pavel Sivakov and Nils Politt both coming to the fore with impressive pulls towards the day’s conclusion. With six categorised climbs in the rearview mirror, it was up to Jhonatan Narváez to guide his teammates into the bottom of the final climb, and he did so with aplomb.
Crossing the line in sixth place and heading to the podium to gather another polka dot jersey, Almeida reflected on retaining the KOM lead and looked ahead to what should be a stage for the sprinters on Friday.
Almeida: “It was a good day, it was hard all day with a big fight for the breakaway. Overall it was quite good and a steep finish. I didn’t have my best legs but I think it was still good enough and a nice surprise to keep the jersey for another day.
“I feel overall okay and tomorrow is a flat stage which will be a little easier, so I should be ok for Saturday.”
Paris-Nice stage 5 results:
1. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) 4:36:23
2. Clément Champoussin (XDS Astana) +3”
3. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) s.t.
6. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +7”
7. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +11”
Paris-Nice general classification after stage 5:
1. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) 16:27:26
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +22”
3. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +36”
4. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +40”
7. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1:05
