The profile of the 4th stage of Paris-Nice 2014 showed a bit more variation than the previous days and in the last climbs of the day, the breakaway with Perrig Quémeneur, Jesus Herrada Lopez, Valerio Agnoli and Laurent Didier came to an end.
All together at the foot of the Côte du Mont Brouilly, the riders tried to get a good position to start this quite steep climb at 14.5 kilometers from the finish.
Tom-Jelte Slagter (Garmin-Sharp) was the first to attack and the Dutch rider was joined by Geraint Thomas, the leader of Team Sky, a bit later on. The two riders managed to stay ahead of the chasing peloton and they ended the stage with a 5 seconds gap. Tom-Jelte Slagter took the stage victory while Geraint Thomas took over the yellow jersey from John Degenkolb.

The summary of the 4th stage of Paris-Nice 2014: Nevers > Belleville

Today's stage, starting in Nevers offered 3 third category difficulties and one 2nd category climb before the finish in Belleville and 164 riders started with the 201.5 kilometers which separated these two cities.

After the start of the stage, several riders attempted to break away but we had to wait until kilometer 11 to see Valerio Agnoli (Astana), Laurent Didier (Trek Factory Racing) and Perrig Quémeneur (Team Europcar, already in yesterda's breakaway) get away from the peloton. Jesus Herrada Lopez (Movistar Team) realised this was the right breakaway and managed to bridge the gap with the 3 leading riders and continue together with them.

Their gap initially goes up to 4'45" at kilometer 38 before going back down. Laurent Didier wins the first intermediate sprint in Vitry-sur-Loire, without really making any effort to win it and their gap is 4'40" at that time.

From there, the gap goes up again but not for long since the riders take a "natural break". They then extend their gap again and it reaches its maximum value of 6'20" at kilometer 111.

In the climb of the Côte de Clayette they lose quite some time however and when Valerio Agnoli arrives first on top their gap is down to 3'15" and while approaching the second climb of the day, the Col du Champ Juin the gap continues to go down. Agnoli again arrives first on top, this time 55 seconds ahead of the peloton.

At the Col de Crie, Agnoli does that again and he thus takes the lead in the King of the Mountains classification. At the sprint of Régnié-Durette, again won by Laurent Didier, the gap is down to 16 seconds and at 18 kilometers from the finish, at the foot of the Côte du Mont Brouilly (the last climb of the day) the 4 leading riders are taken back and Team Sky gets the lead of the peloton. The riders of AG2R La Mondiale take over their position a bit later and Carlos Betancur is the first to attack in this climb but his attempt doesn't last long.

The next rider to try his chance is Tom-Jelte Slagter (Garmin-Sharp), who so far was mainly known due to his results in the Tour Down Under 2013 where he won a stage with a slightly uphill finish and took the second place on the Old Willunga Hill. In the last kilometer of the climb, Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) starts the chase and in the descent the British rider gets back on the Dutch guy.

A chasing groupe, with the yellow jersey John Degenkolb (Team Giant-Shimano), tries to get back on this leading duo, but they never manage to do so. Tom-Jelte Slagter wins the stage and thanks to the bonus seconds and to the 18 seconds gap with the group Degenkolb on the finish line (second group to cross the finish line), Geraint Thomas becomes the new leader of this 72nd edition of Paris-Nice.

The photos of the 4th stage of Paris-Nice 2014 between Nevers and Belleville

You can find a selection of 46 photos of this 4th stage of Paris-Nice 2014 in the dedicated photos section:

>> The photos of the 4th stage of Paris-Nice 2014: Nevers > Belleville

The classifications of Paris-Nice 2014 after the 4th stage

Here are the classifications of Paris-Nice 2014 after this 4th stage:

Stage classification for 4/ Nevers > Belleville

The top 10 of this stage is as follows:

1/ Tom-Jelte Slagter (Garmin-Sharp) - 5h00'09"
2/ Geraint Thomas (Team Sky)
3/ Wilco Kelderlan (Belkin Pro Cycling Team) - +0'05"
4/ Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEDGE)
5/ Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-QuickStep)
6/ Arthur Vichot (FDJ.fr)
7/ Peter Velits (BMC Racing Team)
8/ Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar Team)
9/ Cyril Gautier (Team Europcar)
10/ Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R La Mondiale)

General classification

Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) thus takes over the lead in the general classification, followed by John Degenkolb (Team Giant-Shimano) at 3 seconds.

1/ Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) - 18h14'25"
2/ John Degenkolb (Team Giant-Shimano) - +0'03"
3/ Tom-Jelte Slagter (Garmin-Sharp) - +0'04"
4/ José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar Team) - +0'08"
5/ Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R La Mondiale) - +0'12"

Points classification

In the points classification, John Degenkolb (Team Giant-Shimano) keeps the lead:

1/ John Degenkolb (Team Giant-Shimano) - 39 points
2/ Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ.fr) - 28 points
3/ José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar Team) - 20 points
4/ Moreno Hofland (Belkin Pro Cycling Team) - 16 points
5/ Tom-Jelte Slagter (Garmin-Sharp) - 15 points

King of the Mountains classification

By taking the first place on the first 3 difficulties of the day, Valerio Agnoli (Astana) takes over the polka dot jersey from Christophe Laborie (Bretagne-Séché Environnement), who's now in second position.

1/ Valerio Agnoli (Astana) - 12 points
2/ Christophe Laborie (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) - 9 points
3/ Tom-Jelte Slagter (Garmin-Sharp) - 7 points
4/ Perrig Quémeneur (Team Europcar) - 6 points
5/ Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) - 5 points

Young riders classification

Since Geraint Thomas is too old to be part of the young riders classification, John Degenkolb (Team Giant-Shimano) stays on top of the young riders classification, knowing that the jersey will be worn by Tom-Jelte Slagter (Garmin-Sharp) tomorrow since he's second in this classification.

1/ John Degenkolb (Team Giant-Shimano) - 18h14'28"
2/ Tom-Jelte Slagter (Garmin-Sharp) - +0'01"
3/ Wilco Kelderman (Belkin Pro Cycling Team) - +0'12"
4/ Carlos Betancur (AG2R La Mondiale) - +0'14"
5/ Jon Izaguirre (Movistar Team) - +0'16"

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Paris-Nice 2014 | Paris-Nice

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