Today's stage in Paris-Nice 2013 offered a profile which could have allowed some real battling for the stage victory. However, the leading group of 7 and later 4 riders didn't manage to stay away and a group of 37 riders thus arrived at the finish for a bunch sprint.

The sprint in Saint-Vallier was won by Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEDGE) while the yellow jersey stays on the shoulders of Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp).

The summary of stage 4/ Brioude > Saint-Vallier

199.5 kilometers seperated the start in Brioude from the finish in Saint-Vallier in the 4th stage of Paris-Nice 2013 and the riders had no less than 7 difficulties to climb.

While initially all 176 remaining riders started just before 11AM, Angelo Tulik had to leave the roads of Paris-Nice 2013 in the first kilometers, ill:

Abandon sur #ParisNice, malade a fond. Une grosse déception pour cette première sur la course au soleil.

— Angelo Tulik (@Angelotulik) March 7, 2013

After 8 kilometers, a trio of riders started the first serious attack. Javier Moreno (Movistar Team), Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and Johann Tschopp (IAM Cycling) were than joined by Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) in the first climb of the day, the Côte de Lachaud. On top Tschopp took the points, ahead of Voeckler.

In the descent of this first climb which had its highest point at only 11.5 kilometers in the race, Moreno gets behind and the remaining trio continue at the lead of the race, without however easily being able to create a gap.

On top of the second climb, the Côte de Condat, it was again Tschopp who arrived first on top, this time ahead of Meersman and 45 seconds later followed by Hubert Dupont (AG2R La Mondiale) and Romain Sicard (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and 1'05" later by the peloton. In the descente two other riders started the chase, Warren Barguil (Argos-Shimano) and Michael Morkov (Astana) and those two riders rapidly joined the first chasing group.

The intermediate sprint in La Chaise-Dieu was won by Thomas Voeckler, ahead of Tschopp and Meersman, followed by the chasing group at 1'15" and at 4 minutes by the peloton. The leading trio is rapidly joined by the chasing group however and the leading group thus grows to 7 riders with a gap of about 3 minutes 30 on the peloton.

Johan Tschopp again takes the points for the King of the Mountains classification on top of the Côte de la Chomasse, ahead of Barguil and Meersman while Elia Favilli (Lampre-Merida) leaves the race. The Swiss rider continue his quest for points for the KOM classification because on the Côte de Laprat he again arrives first on top, ahead of Barguil, and after the abandon of Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) he does the same on top of the Col du Rouvey, ahead of Voeckler.

At the second intermediate sprint in Saint-Romain-d'Ay at 42 kilometers from the finish, the points and bonus seconds are again for Thomas Voeckler as he passes the line ahead of Sicard and Dupont and the gap, which was relatively stable at values above 3 minutes so far, than goes under 1 minute 30 and continue to go down thanks to an accelleration of the peloton led by the Lampre-Merida team.

The climb of the Côte de Talencieux made an end to the points collection for Johann Tschopp with Thomas Voeckler accellerating and Hubert Dupont being the only one able to follow. This new leading duo thus arrived first on top, with the points for Voeckler, followed at 12 seconds by Tschopp and Meersman and at 35 seconds by the peloton. These 4 riders got together leading the race but were taken back by the peloton at 14 kilometers from the finish.

While the peloton gets split up in two, several tentatives at the head of the race in the climb of the Côte de la Sizeranne remain without success. Michele Scarponi (Lampre-Merida) arrives first on top, ahead of Richie Porte (Team Sky) and Andreas Klöden (Radioshack-Leopard).

Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) takes the lead of the first peloton in the final part of the race but doesn't manage to get away. The first group thus stays together while approaching the finish in Saint-Vallier and a sprint finish thus becomes probable, despite the unsuccessful tentative by Robert Gesink (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) in the last kilometer of the stage.
In this sprint Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEDGE) turns out to be the fastest, beating Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana) and Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-QuickStep). The rider wearing the yellow jersey, Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp), finishes at the 6th place at the same time as the winner and thus keeps his precious jersey.

The classifications of Paris-Nice 2013 after the 4th stage

The result of stage 4/ Brioude > Saint-Vallier

Here's the top 5 of this 4th stage:

1/ Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEDGE) - 4h55'41"
2/ Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana)
3/ Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-QuickStep)
4/ Enrico Gasparotto (Astana)
5/ Robert Gesink (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)

The general classification

After this 4th stage, the top 5 of the general classification of Paris-Nice almost remains unchanged, with just Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) entering the top 3, and now looks as follows:

1/ Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) - 19h35'17"
2/ Andriy Grivko (Astana) - +0'03"
3/ Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) - +0'04"
4/ Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-QuickStep)
5/ Gorka Izaguirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi) - +0'05"

Points classification

Thanks to the points they took today at the finish in Saint-Vallier, Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) and Peter Velits enter the top 5 of the points classification, of which the green jersey is still worn by Elia Viviani (Cannondale):

1/ Elia Viviani (Cannondale) - 55 points
2/ Borut Bozic (Astana) - 43 points
3/ Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) - 41 points
4/ Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) - 38 points
5/ Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) - 36 points

King of the Mountains classification

Johann Tschopp (IAM Cycling) was the champion on the top of the climbs of the day and he thus reached his goal to take the polka dot jersey of the King of the Mountains classification. The rider who wore this jersey before, Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team), now dropped back to the 5th place while several riders newly arrived in the top 5:

1/ Johann Tschopp (IAM Cycling) - 29 points
2/ Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) - 17 points
3/ Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) - 11 points
4/ Andriy Grivko (Astana) - 9 points
5/ Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) - 8 points

Best young riders classification

At the top of the best young riders classification there were no changes with Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) and Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) occupying the first two places. Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) and Egor Silin (Astana) however leave the top 5 and leave their places to Wilco Kelderman (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) who makes his comeback in the top 5 and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) who now ends up the top 5:

1/ Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) - 14h39'36"
2/ Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) - +0'16"
3/ Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) - +0'18"
4/ Wilco Kelderman (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
5/ Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) - +0'21"

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Paris-Nice | Paris-Nice 2013

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