The Colombian Santiago Buitrago was drunk with happiness on Wednesday at Mont Brouilly where he won one of the most beautiful victories of his career during the 4th stage of Paris-Nice which saw the favorites neutralize each other.
“To win here in France, in such a big race, is extraordinary. In addition, the team also won at Tirreno-Adriatico today with Phil Bauhaus. It’s a great day for Bahrain”, savored the climber from Bogota.
Already winner of two stages on the Tour of Italy, Buitrago, 24, won ten seconds ahead of his breakaway companion, the Australian Luke Plapp, who was also rewarded by taking the yellow jersey. of leader.
The two men fell apart on the penultimate ascent, the Col du Fût d’Avenas, where David Gaudu, while trying to take off his jacket, fell, dragging Aurélien Paret-Peintre with him, to finish more six minutes from the winner, completely defeated.
Behind Buitrago, who fell into the arms of his compatriot Egan Bernal at the finish, the main favorites arrived in a small peloton, around forty seconds behind.
Australian Lucas Platt yellow jersey for Paris-Nice at the finish of the 4th stage, March 6, 2024 at Mont Brouilly / Thomas SAMSON / AFP
Remco Evenepoel, after beating his great rival Primoz Roglic in the intermediate sprint to pocket six seconds of bonuses, tried to attack twice. But the Belgian failed to make the difference, even grilled on the line by Mattias Skjelmose for third place, two seconds ahead of Roglic.
“Two seconds isn’t a lot, but it’s still a good step for us,” responded Evenepoel, who congratulated Plapp with these words: “I thought we were going to catch you.”
“General classification objective”
Departing from Chalon-sur-Saône, we were nevertheless expecting a big explanation during this mid-mountain stage full of slides, with seven difficulties listed, a mini-Liège-Bastogne-Liège conducive to large-scale offensives.
The Belgian Remco Evenepoel at the finish of the 4th stage of Paris-Nice, March 6, 2024 at Mont Brouilly / Thomas SAMSON / AFP
And it started strong with a peloton devouring the first kilometers at full speed, without a glance at the Beaujolais vineyards where the temptation could have been great to linger and stop to taste the region’s wines.
But in the money time, the positions remained frozen, which the Buitrago-Plapp duo delighted in, two excellent climbers who took advantage of the passivity of the armadas.
“I didn’t really understand UAE’s tactics which let the escapees go when they had four riders in the first four places in the general classification”, regretted Evenepoel, believing that Buitrago and Plapp could be “difficult to go seek”.
“The general classification is the objective now,” confirmed Buitrago, second overall behind Plapp but 17 seconds ahead of Evenepoel (5th) and almost a minute over Roglic (15th).
On paper, there are still plenty of opportunities to turn the tables, especially during the final weekend in the Nice hinterland.
But the threat of seeing the queen stage towards Auron on Saturday amputated of its two passes above 1,500 m because of the snow risks changing the situation in an event which is often decided by seconds.
“I still hope that the weather will be good on Saturday,” commented Plapp, already “rewarded beyond (his) expectations” and for whom “everything is a bonus from now on”.