Paris-Nice 2025 Stage 4 recap - Joao Almeida wins on hilly, weather-affected stage, Jonas Vingegaard leads overall

On a weather-interrupted stage, Joao Almeida left it late but timed his move perfectly, to snatch a stage victory from under the nose of two-time Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard.

Sleet and snow overwhelmed the race on the descent of the third from last climb, with two groups up the road. So treacherous were the conditions, which saw a police motorbike skid off the road, that at one point they threatened to curtail the race completely. Instead, there was a temporary neutralisation of around half an hour, during which riders layered up and filled bidons with warm tea. 

When racing resumed, it took on an entirely different shape as UAE Team Emirates and Lidl-Trek determined to set up their respective team leaders for a grandstand finish. Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers), who had been in the early break, dropped back to try to help his team-mate Tobias Foss take the stage. Although Foss reached the final climb, La Loge des Gardes, alone, it was with a slender advantage. 

On the approach to the same summit, between them Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) reduced the gap to the front to just a handful of seconds, and the peloton to a handful of riders.
When they swung up it was only big hitters left, although several, including Ben O’Connor (Jayco-Alula) and Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) appeared to have suffered too much in the cold to stay at the front.

Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) took a couple of swings off the front, but was both times marked out by Vingegaard. The Dane used the second attack to hit out himself, and gained a double digit lead that looked like it could be a winning one.

Behind the half dozen riders remaining kept it steady and Vingegaard in their sights. As he seemed to fade, Almeida was inspired to move, flying by just a few metres from the line.

Consolation for a dismayed-seeming Vingegaard came in the leader’s jersey, although his rivals will surely realise he is far from invulnerable. 

Despite taking none from the preceding five climbs of the day, Almeida picked up enough points on the summit finish to become the new King of the Mountains.

NEW GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) 11'50'59"
2. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +5''
3. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +33''
4. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +36''
5. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +37''

1. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 3'37'06"
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1''
3. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +2''
4. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) +2''
5. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +6''
6. Matteo Jorgensen (Visma-Lease a Bike) +6''

With bonuses that's an eleven second swing from Vingegaard to Jorgensen.

He lost more than two minutes today, as we see him getting on to the bus with the microphone picking up some words I'm not going to repeat here.

JOAO ALMEIDA: WE DESERVED IT
I'm super happy. It was a hard day, a lot happened. We had some snow, but we never gave up. I think we deserved it. I was feeling quite good - I'm not the best guy in cold temperatures - but the climb was not quite steep enough to split up the final group. Yesterday was not our day but today was another opportunity and we need to take the positives. I think I can win the race but it's not just up to me. I'll do my best.

Vingegaard was dying at the end and it was enough to tempt the Portugese rider, who rode past him just a few metres from the line. Bonus seconds plus a few more should mean Jorgensen hands the jersey over to his team-mate. Some consolation at least, but this isn't the first time Vingegaard has had that happen on this hill.

They're hesitating behind. They can't expect the yellow jersey to ride, because it's his team-mate out front. Almeida knows he has to do something. What does Vingegaard have left? The clock says 5 seconds but it looks like more than that.

But he's got an anchor in Vingegaard. The Tour de France winner chooses this time to attack and it's all Martinez can do to hold on. In fact he can't. Foss is picked up and spat out.

Again it's Vingegaard on the wheel. Talk about super domestique. Foss has lost about half of his advantage amid those accelerations, and they've got him in their sights.

3.5KM TO GO: LENNY MARTINEZ ATTACKS
And it's Vingegaard who is tasked with marking him, but doing no more than that, so things should calm down again, which is what happens.

And even gaining a few seconds here and there. What's key, though is what happens when Pedersen calls it a day... And as I type that, he pulls across. The response is a bunch of riders looking at each other. Foss wouldn't mind that if he was aware of it.

The American said he'd been feeling good, but it seems the cold has got to him. Mads Pedersen is singlehandedly dropping everyone in favour of his Lidl-Trek team-mate Mattias Skjelmose, who has just moved onto his compatriot's wheel.

Up and at 'em. Josh Tarling looks to lead out Foss, and we'll see what he can do. There might be a bit of a lull when the big men behind peel off, but you'd think Foss will need every second of that 35 second lead, and more.

Who's going to react the best on this final climb. It's just a couple of kilometres away.

And look to go straight past to take as much advantage as they can onto this final climb. I don't think it's going to happen for them, though. Not unless, as Sean Kelly says, the cold has set into some mountain goats' bones.

That's the jersey staying in the family, then. And I think that's the last points they'll take today, as Mads Pedersen is on an absolute mission. The peloton, reduced as it is, is now just 30 seconds from the front. This is a day for the classics men, and no mistake.

The Cote de la Chabanne, which is 3km at 5%.

Which could be very helpful, but it's a tall order given how quickly the gap to the bunch is coming down. 1'30 to the peloton now, as Visma send one of their riders up to contribute to the chase.

They were not, after all, allowed to stay at the front of the race. They're 1'05 behind the main break, and about the same ahead of the peloton. Leknessund is pushing on solo, but it's a long long way for him.