No sign of shelter: The bunch makes it way in the wet towards Nice
Nicolas Roche (Ag2r-La Mondiale) has today put in a good performance in Paris-Nice, finishing seventh in the bunch sprint that decided the 178km stage from Brive-la-Gaillarde to Rodez.
The sprint from a greatly reduced peloton was won by Gianna Meersman (Lotto-Belisol), with the Belgian winning a strongman’s gallop from Slovenia Greg Bole (Lampre-ISD).
Roche was seventh just one place ahead of yesterday’s stage winner and one of the big GC favourites Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).
A measure of how tough the finale was – featuring a category three climb at the very end – was the presence of yellow jersey Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) in 10th place on the stage.
It was a tough wet slog today with five climbs – two second cats and three third cats – to be negotiated by the riders.
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More later.
Stage 4
Brive-la-Gaillarde to Rodez 178km
1 Gianni Meersman (Bel) Lotto Belisol
2 Greg Bole (Slo) Lampre-ISD
3 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM
4 Xavier Florencio (Spa) Katusha
5 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Saur-Sojasun
6 Simon Geschke (Ger) Project 1t4i
7 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Ag2r-La Mondiale
8 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar
9 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Astana
10 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling
(Provisional stage result – we’ll have GC later)
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