An uncertain stage until the end, the Vichy / La Loge des Gardes, fourth stage of Paris-Nice 2025. After neutralization due to snow and rain, the victory was decided in the final meters when João Almeida caught and passed Jonas Vingegaard, who had surprised his rivals by breaking away from the main group 2.5 kilometers from the finish line. First seasonal victory for the 26-year-old Portuguese rider from UAE Team Emirates - XRG, who delivers the sixteenth win this year for the Emirates team, climbing on the podium with the Danish Visma Lease a Bike rider and Mattias Skjelmose from Lidl - Trek in third place.

Regarding the general classification, today's stage gives us a new leader: Vingegaard, in fact, overtakes his teammate Jorgenson, who is now second with a 5" gap, while Skjelmose is now third at 33" from his compatriot.

THE RACE - Water and snow forced the organizers to neutralize the stage, which started from Vichy, when the caravan was about fifty kilometers from the finish line while a group of seven athletes was in the breakaway composed of Ben Swift (INEOS Grenadiers), Thibault Guernalec (Arkéa - B&B Hotels), Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education - EasyPost), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), Sylvain Moniquet (Cofidis), Thomas Gachignard (Team TotalEnergies) and Edward Planckaert (Alpecin - Deceuninck). Behind these escapees, with a delay of 1'35" were Foss, Tarling and Dion Smith (Intermarché - Wanty) while the yellow jersey group was 2'05" behind.

After covering several kilometers at a controlled pace behind the race management vehicles, the athletes were stopped 28 km from the finish and, after a discussion with the organizers, restarted to face the final kilometers with the gaps that the various groups had before the neutralization.

Andreas Leknessund courageously launched a solo breakaway, distancing the other attackers. At the foot of the Côte de la Chabanne, however, the situation changed and Guernalec, Moniquet, Gachignard, Planckaert caught Leknessund while Swift waited for his teammates Foss and Tarling, forming the INEOS Grenadiers trio, and Albanese, who had detached from the breakaway, was caught by the peloton.

On the day's final climb, Tobias Foss (INEOS Grenadiers) remained alone in the lead with about thirty seconds advantage over the small group of classification riders in hot pursuit. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain - Victorious) tried to attack several times, but Vingegaard placed the most convincing attack, doing everything to drop his rivals and fly towards victory. But Almeida outfoxed him.

In today's eventful day, the withdrawal of Santiago Buitrago is also worth noting. The Colombian from Bahrain - Victorious slipped on the wet asphalt while rounding a downhill curve and after the fall was no longer able to continue the race.

STAGE RESULTS

1 ALMEIDA João UAE Team Emirates - XRG 03:37:06

2 VINGEGAARD Jonas Team Visma | Lease a Bike 00:01

3 SKJELMOSE Mattias Lidl - Trek 00:02

4 MARTINEZ Lenny Bahrain - Victorious ,,

5 LIPOWITZ Florian Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe 00:06

6 JORGENSON Matteo Team Visma | Lease a Bike ,,

7 MCNULTY Brandon UAE Team Emirates - XRG 00:09

8 TEJADA Harold XDS Astana Team 00:17

9 ARENSMAN Thymen INEOS Grenadiers ,,

10 CHAMPOUSSIN Clément XDS Astana Team 00:21

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1 6 VINGEGAARD Jonas DEN TVL 11h50'59" 00"

2 1 JORGENSON Matteo USA TVL 11h51'04" 05"

3 31*SKJELMOSE Mattias DEN LTK 11h51'32" 33"

4 42*LIPOWITZ Florian GER RBH 11h51'35" 36"

5 22 ALMEIDA Joao POR UAD 11h51'36" 37"

6 61 ARENSMAN Thymen NED IGD 11h51'55" 56"

7 21 MCNULTY Brandon USA UAD 11h51'57" 58"

8 62 FOSS Tobias Svendsen NOR IGD 11h52'05" 01'06"

9 85*MARTINEZ Lenny FRA TBV 11h52'08" 01'09"

10 103*CASTRILLO ZAPATER Pablo ESP MOV 11h52'21" 01'22"

11 17*VAN WILDER Ilan BEL SOQ 11h52'23" 01'24"

12 131 TEJADA Harold COL XAT 11h52'24" 01'25"

13 133 CHAMPOUSSIN Clement FRA XAT 11h52'28" 01'29"

14 116 STORER Michael AUS TUD 11h52'38" 01'39"

15 101*ROMEO ABAD Ivan ESP MOV 11h53'00" 02'01"

16 121 MARTIN Guillaume FRA GFC 11h53'01" 02'02"

17 102 BARTA William USA MOV 11h53'13" 02'14"

18 155*STEINHAUSER Georg GER EFE 11h53'22" 02'23"

19 76 PARET PEINTRE Aurelien FRA DAT 11h53'23" 02'24"

20 51 O'CONNOR Ben AUS JAY 11h53'29" 02'30"

Updated