Martinez strongest on extremely steep Paris-Nice climb: Vingegaard crashes and loses yellow jersey

Lenny Martinez won the Paris-Nice fifth stage. The French rider from Bahrain Victorious was the strongest after a difficult uphill stage, in which Jonas Vingegaard crashed and lost his yellow jersey halfway through the race. Matteo Jorgenson took over the jersey from his teammate, who finished third. Clément Champoussin (XDS Astana) finished second.

The fourth stage of the Race to the Sun was full of spectacle, but not for the right reasons. The weather conditions were horrible, with freezing temperatures, hail and snow. It even became so bad that the race was suspended twice. The riders were frozen as they continued to arrive at the top of the climb, where João Almeida ultimately proved too strong for Jonas Vingegaard.

On Thursday, the riders could again 'enjoy' the weather as the freezing temperatures persisted. The riders were dressed warmly as they lined up at the start of the difficult stage, although fortunately, it was a bit drier. The cold caused a fierce battle in the opening phase, as several riders took the opportunity to attempt a breakaway. Michael Matthews, Anthony Turgis, and others tried, but in the end, they were unsuccessful.

Ben Swift (INEOS Grenadiers) did get some leeway, along with Thibault Gruél (Groupama-FDJ). The two were considered less dangerous than the others, so they could ride away and build up a nice lead. A remarkable detail: the Brit is no less than 17 years older than his 20-year-old French breakaway companion. The race briefly calmed down, although that quickly disappeared due to a crash by GC leader Vingegaard. The man in the yellow jersey was on the ground with about 85 kilometers to go. Fortunately, he got up quickly and could continue after a check-up at the medical car.

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Eager Foss opens finals again

The fifth stage was not easy. With no fewer than five different climbs in the last 40 kilometers, it promised to be a spectacle. And Tobias Foss was the first to make his move, just as he did in the fourth stage. He broke away and rode to the front, where Swift helped him gain momentum. But behind him, too, there was a lot of activity: Matthews chased, together with Iván Romeo (Movistar) and Oscar Riesebeek (Alpecin-Deceuninck). However, it was an impossible task: the peloton quickly caught them.

Foss was next to go solo and had a one-minute lead with 20 kilometers to go. But many more difficult kilometers would follow. This was also difficult for Vingegaard, who seemed to have suffered some consequences from his crash. His lip appeared to be bleeding, and he was hanging it at the back of the group of favorites. He did manage to stay in the lead in the run-up to the grueling finish. Foss, the solo leader, was losing terrain, partly due to the hard work of Lidl-Trek. But Visma | Lease a Bike also got into the mix in the last 10 kilometers.

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Vingegaard suffers on steep climb

As a result, Foss was caught with about four kilometers to go. The final climb, the Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Sciez, was extremely tough: Mattias Skjelmose felt good and let his strong lieutenants Daan Hoole and Mads Pedersen do the work. Pedersen, in particular, once again made his presence felt: he split the peloton in two before it was time for his leader. But Visma managed to bring Jorgenson back in excellent shape, thanks to newcomer Axel Zingle.

Brandon McNulty then took over, but team leader Almeida struggled to keep up. Vingegaard also experienced great difficulty. Jorgenson took over and continued at full speed, leaving the others no option but to let him go. Tejada and Lenny Martinez caught up. Martinez was the strongest in the sprint, leaving the rest behind: Champoussin and Jorgenson followed a second or two behind. Vingegaard lost thirty seconds and thus his yellow jersey.

Results stage 5 Paris-Nice 2025

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