Solid Santiago Buitrago.
Starting 22 km from the finish to join Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla), isolated in the lead, the Colombian from the Bahrain Victorious team perfectly resisted the group of favorites to win at the summit of Mont Brouilly during the 4th Paris-Nice stage.
Luke Plapp takes second place, ahead of Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), who beat Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) in the sprint.
The big expected battle between the favorites did not take place in Mont Brouilly.
Well wedged in the wheel of his teammate Ilan Van Wilder, the Belgian champion only accelerated in the last hectometers to try to take the bonuses offered to third.
🇩🇰@skjelmose_ beats 🇧🇪@EvenepoelRemco in the sprint for 3rd place and the remaining 2'' bonus.
But it's good 🇦🇺@LucasPlapp, 2nd in the stage, who takes the @MaillotjauneLCL!
💛
🇩🇰@skjelmose_ outsprints 🇧🇪@EvenepoelRemco for the 3rd place and the remaining 2" bonus. But… pic.twitter.com/GRY67bE8vV
— Paris-Nice (@ParisNice) March 6, 2024
He was finally surprised on the line by the Danish champion.
Egan Bernal, Felix Gall, Primoz Roglic and Matteo Jorgenson still conceded two seconds to Evenepoel and Skjelmose.
David Gaudu loses 6 minutes
The big loser of the day is David Gaudu.
The Frenchman fell in the Col du Fût d'Avenas, taking Aurélien Paret-Peintre with him.
First expected by Quentin Pacher to bring him back into the peloton, the Groupama-FDJ rider finally completely collapsed, arriving more than six minutes behind the winner of the day.
💥 🇫🇷@GauduDavid fell a little earlier, he is in a chasing group behind the peloton of favorites.
💥 🇫🇷 @GauduDavid crashed earlier and is now in a chasing group behind the pack of favorites.#ParisNice pic.twitter.com/lKxtiDYyFs
— Paris-Nice (@ParisNice) March 6, 2024
In the general classification, Luke Plapp takes the yellow jersey, which was on the shoulders of Brandon McNulty.
He is 13 seconds ahead of the winner of the day, Buitrago.
However, nothing is decided since the big names have not yet revealed their game. The big battle should take place this weekend, in the Nice hinterland.