Paris-Nice 2020 – Stage 4 [FULL STAGE – Individual Time Trial]

March 11, 2020

Paris-Nice 2020 – Stage 4 ITT – Saint-Amand-Montrond – Saint-Amand-Montrond : 15,1 km

Who is and who isn’t? Ian Brown’s repeated question from the stage of Blackpool’s Empress Ballroom all those years ago during a famous Stone Roses concert has been echoed in the days leading up to the 2020 edition of Paris-Nice. At the time of writing, seven WorldTour teams have confirmed their withdrawal from the Race to the Sun, citing concerns over the risk of contracting or spreading coronavirus Covid-19. The withdrawal of Team Ineos of defending champion Egan Bernal is also a mark of respect to the late Nicolas Portal, who died tragically earlier this week and whose funeral takes place in Auch on Monday. CCC Team, Mitchelton-Scott, Movistar, Astana, UAE Team Emirates and now Jumbo-Visma have pulled out of Paris-Nice – and the since-postponed slate of racing in Italy – strictly as a precaution against Covid-19. Earlier this week, however, the French ministry for sport gave the green light for Paris-Nice to go ahead, albeit with a caveat that local governments along the route retain the right to impose restrictions if the situation develops. As of Friday morning, France had 423 confirmed cases of Covid-19 distributed nationwide, but Emmanuel Macron’s government has for the time being stopped short of declaring a stage 3 epidemic in the country and taking dramatic actions similar to those decreed in Italy that forced the cancellation of all the March races.

Soren Kragh Andersen (Sunweb) put in a fairytale performance to win the stage 4 time trial at Paris-Nice. The Dane covered the 15km course in a time of 18:51 to hold off the late challenge of race leader Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe) by six seconds.

It was a tense finale for Kragh Andersen after Schachmann had posted the fastest time at the intermediate time check but the German crumbled in the last kilometres with Sunweb taking their first WorldTour win of the season.

Kasper Asgreen rounded out the top three on a day that also saw Schachmann extend his lead in the overall standings.

After four stages, Schachmann leads Kragh Andersen by 58 seconds but the real damage saw the German put significant time into a number of the pre-race favourites with Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain McLaren), Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) all losing time.

Nibali is now 1:18 off Schachmann’s yellow jersey while Pinot is even further back at 1:30. Quintana is at 2:38.

Shachmann still has several difficult days to go in the race before he can relax but his closest rivals at this point appear to Sergio Higuita, Dylan Teuns and Tiesj Benoot. For home favourite Julian Alaphilippe, who was racing on home roads during the stage, the day ended in disappointment with the Frenchman conceding 36 seconds.

While Schachmann toasted another day in yellow the biggest smile came from the 25-year-old stage winner, who added another win to his growing palmares.

“I’m super happy. To be honest, it’s a big relief and it finally came, my TT victory. It’s super. I almost can’t believe it, but I was really aiming for it. I did my best and my legs were good again. I like the hills, technical parts and tempo shifts so it was a super-good parcours for me. I’m here to help the team and help Tiesj. We’ll go day by day for stage results and GC for him. This was my chance and I’m so happy I took it.”

After three days of crosswind carnage, stage 4 was always going to see the pitch and tone of this year’s Paris-Nice change. Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) was an early pace-setter, with Lawson Craddock (EF Pro Cycling) and Jan Tratnik posting noticeable times. However, it as Pello Bilbao (Bahrain McLaren) who set tongues wagging with the fastest intermediate time check at 7km. He would eventually pay for his efforts and fade to fifth but his ride set the tone for a set up surprising times.

World hour record holder Victor Campenaerts, despite shaving his beard off this morning and posting a video on social media to announce such monumental news, never troubled the leaders, while Quintana and Pinot were always on the back foot.

Kasper Asgreen looked strong at the first check and then set the fastest time by less than one second but he was forced out of the hot seat by Anderson, who appeared to time both the undulating first section and the flat run-in perfectly. The Sunweb rider smashed through the finish with a time 12 seconds faster than his nearest rivals but none of the pre-race GC contenders could touch him.

Teuns and Benoot were consistent but fell away in the closing kilometres of their efforts, as Schachmann rolled up the first climb with a time that looked destined to net him his second stage win of the race. However, the German struggled towards the end of his race, and while he missed out on the win he still had the consolation of extending his GC lead. The gaps, even to the likes of Nibali and Pinot are not excessive enough to count them out from the overall picture but with just one pure summit finish they will have to race aggressively and hope that Schachmann begins to come undone.

Results :
1 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:18:51
2 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:06
3 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:00:12
4 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:13
5 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain McLaren 0:00:15
6 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) NTT Pro Cycling 0:00:17
7 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:18
8 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:26
9 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:27
10 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Pro Cycling 0:00:29
11 Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Pro Cycling 0:00:33
12 Bob Jungels (Lux) Deceuninck-Quickstep
13 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain McLaren
14 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:34
15 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Team Sunweb 0:00:36
16 Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain McLaren
17 Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
17 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep
19 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain McLaren 0:00:40
20 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
21 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) EF Pro Cycling 0:00:42
22 Nils Politt (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:00:43
23 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:00:45
24 Sergio Andres Higuita Garcia (Col) EF Pro Cycling 0:00:46
25 Nils Eekhoff (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:48
26 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:50
27 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
28 Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:51
29 Mads Schmidt Würtz (Den) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:00:52
30 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:53
31 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
32 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:00:56
33 Winner Anacona (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:58
34 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal
35 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis 0:01:01
36 Damien Touze (Fra) Cofidis
37 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:01:02
38 Ben O’Connor (Aus) NTT Pro Cycling 0:01:03
39 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:01:04
40 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:01:05
41 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Total Direct Energie
42 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis 0:01:06
43 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:01:08
44 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
45 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling
46 Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:01:10
47 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
48 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
49 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis 0:01:11
50 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:12
51 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling 0:01:15
52 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:16
53 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain McLaren
54 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:01:17
55 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert
56 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:01:19
57 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Total Direct Energie 0:01:20
58 John Degenkolb (Ger) Lotto Soudal
59 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:01:21
60 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis 0:01:22
61 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R la Mondiale
62 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:24
63 Michael Gogl (Aut) NTT Pro Cycling
64 Michael Hundahl (Den) NTT Pro Cycling 0:01:25
65 Anthony Turgis (Fra) Total Direct Energie
66 Michael Woods (Can) EF Pro Cycling 0:01:27
67 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:31
68 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:01:33
69 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
70 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Bora-Hansgrohe
71 Julien Vermote (Bel) Cofidis 0:01:34
72 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:01:35
73 Alex Kirsch (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:37
74 Aime De Gendt (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:01:43
75 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:45
76 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Arkea-Samsic
77 Julien Simon (Fra) Total Direct Energie
78 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) NTT Pro Cycling 0:01:46
79 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Pro Cycling
80 Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:50
81 Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Nippo Delko Provence
82 Nico Denz (Ger) Team Sunweb
83 Connor Swift (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:01:51
84 Tom Scully (NZl) EF Pro Cycling
85 Tim Declercq (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:01:52
86 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) EF Pro Cycling 0:01:58
87 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain McLaren 0:01:59
88 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:00
89 Romain Combaud (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
90 Dries Van Gestel (Bel) Total Direct Energie
91 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:02:01
92 José Gonçalves (Por) Nippo Delko Provence 0:02:02
93 Tom Devriendt (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
94 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis 0:02:03
95 Quentin Pacher (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
96 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:02:04
97 Julien Trarieux (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
98 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep
99 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal
100 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:02:05
101 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:12
102 Bryan Coquard (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:02:16
103 Frederik Backaert (Bel) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:02:17
104 Cyril Gautier (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
105 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:02:19
106 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Nippo Delko Provence
107 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:02:28
108 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ 0:02:29
109 Piet Allegaert (Bel) Cofidis
110 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:02:32
111 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:02:33
112 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
113 Jens Debusschere (Bel) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:02:35
114 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
115 Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:02:37
116 Cyril Barthe (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:02:38
117 Julien El Fares (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence 0:02:39
118 Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Total Direct Energie
119 Ivan Garcia Cortina (Spa) Bahrain McLaren 0:02:40
120 Boy Van Poppel (Ned) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:02:41
121 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Total Direct Energie
122 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain McLaren 0:02:45
123 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:47
124 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:02:49
125 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:51
126 Adrien Petit (Fra) Total Direct Energie
127 Dayer Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:02:56
128 Kevin Reza (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:03:05
129 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Nippo Delko Provence 0:03:16
130 Daniel McLay (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:04:07
DNS Sam Bennett (Irl) Deceuninck-Quickstep
DNS Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) NTT Pro Cycling
DNS Guillaume Boivin (Can) Israel Start-Up Nation

General Classification after Stage 4 :
1 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 13:30:58
2 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:00:58
3 Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:01
4 Nils Politt (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:01:05
5 Sergio Andres Higuita Garcia (Col) EF Pro Cycling 0:01:06
6 Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain McLaren 0:01:10
7 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Team Sunweb 0:01:11
8 Mads Schmidt Würtz (Den) Israel Start-Up Nation
9 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling 0:01:15
10 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:01:16
11 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:18
12 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:28
13 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:29
14 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:30
15 Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Pro Cycling 0:01:31
16 Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:01:32
17 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:40
18 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R la Mondiale 0:01:59
19 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:02:04
20 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:06
21 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:02:10
22 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:02:15
23 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:02:16
24 John Degenkolb (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:02:18
25 Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:02:38
26 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:03:04
27 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:03:06
28 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:03:33
29 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain McLaren 0:03:41
30 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis
31 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:04:11
32 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) NTT Pro Cycling 0:04:18
33 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:04:33
34 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:04:40
35 Ivan Garcia Cortina (Spa) Bahrain McLaren 0:04:53
36 Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Nippo Delko Provence 0:04:57
37 Bob Jungels (Lux) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:05:01
38 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:05:04
39 Connor Swift (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:05:10
40 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:05:19
41 Damien Touze (Fra) Cofidis 0:05:31
42 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:05:37
43 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:05:39
44 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain McLaren 0:06:08
45 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis 0:06:16
46 Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 0:06:31
47 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:06:38
48 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ 0:06:53
49 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling 0:06:54
50 Michael Hundahl (Den) NTT Pro Cycling 0:07:19
51 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:07:23
52 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:07:38
53 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) NTT Pro Cycling 0:08:12
54 Michael Woods (Can) EF Pro Cycling
55 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ 0:08:17
56 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:08:35
57 Julien Vermote (Bel) Cofidis 0:09:33
58 Piet Allegaert (Bel) Cofidis 0:09:51
59 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:09:56
60 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain McLaren
61 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal
62 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:10:16
63 Aime De Gendt (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:10:32
64 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:10:42
65 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain McLaren 0:10:47
66 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:10:51
67 Julien Trarieux (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence 0:11:19
68 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) EF Pro Cycling 0:11:25
69 Nils Eekhoff (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:11:50
70 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Nippo Delko Provence 0:11:55
71 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Pro Cycling 0:11:57
72 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis 0:12:01
73 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:12:02
74 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Pro Cycling 0:12:42
75 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:12:47
76 Tim Declercq (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:13:06
77 Winner Anacona (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:13:26
78 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:13:55
79 Frederik Backaert (Bel) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
80 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
81 Dries Van Gestel (Bel) Total Direct Energie 0:14:15
82 Quentin Pacher (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:14:16
83 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:14:32
84 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Total Direct Energie
85 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:14:52
86 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis 0:15:36
87 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:15:51
88 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Nippo Delko Provence 0:16:00
89 Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Total Direct Energie 0:16:07
90 Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:16:20
91 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis 0:16:27
92 Nico Denz (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:16:29
93 Tom Scully (NZl) EF Pro Cycling 0:16:37
94 Cyril Gautier (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:17:09
95 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) EF Pro Cycling 0:17:10
96 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:17:22
97 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:17:24
98 Dayer Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:18:07
99 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain McLaren 0:18:10
100 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:19:22
101 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:20:16
102 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:20:54
103 Alex Kirsch (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:21:19
104 Bryan Coquard (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:21:20
105 Jens Debusschere (Bel) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:21:21
106 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:21:42
107 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:21:47
108 Anthony Turgis (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:21:51
109 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:21:53
110 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:21:54
111 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:22:00
112 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:22:10
113 Romain Combaud (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence 0:22:21
114 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:22:23
115 José Gonçalves (Por) Nippo Delko Provence 0:23:00
116 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:23:02
117 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain McLaren 0:23:07
118 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:24:31
119 Adrien Petit (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:25:10
120 Michael Gogl (Aut) NTT Pro Cycling 0:25:25
121 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Trek-Segafredo 0:25:58
122 Julien Simon (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:26:03
123 Cyril Barthe (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:26:06
124 Boy Van Poppel (Ned) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:26:27
125 Ben O’Connor (Aus) NTT Pro Cycling 0:27:19
126 Julien El Fares (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence 0:28:03
127 Tom Devriendt (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:28:26
128 Kevin Reza (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:30:13
129 Daniel McLay (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:34:52
130 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:41:00