Place Name: D 228
Address: D 228, 71190 Uchon, France
Details: March 11, 2026
After two sprint days and a team time trial, the GC guys will finally have to show themselves when the road goes up. The race will start in the cathedral town of Bourges near the geographical center of France and head directly East, across wide expanses of farm land, to Uchon and the finish after 195KM of racing. The first 115KM of the stage is almost completely flat with little on the landscape to mention. The Côte de la Croix des Cerisiers is first blemish on the profile and rises for 6.2KM at an average of 4%. The route gently rolls downhill to Autun for an intermediate sprint with bonus seconds on offer. Straight out of Autun comes the second classified climb on the stage, the Côte de la Croix de la Libération, a 4.7KM climb at 5.3% with a section near the top that exceeds 7%. A steeper descent than the last will take the riders into Mesvres and a 10KM flat road to Étang-sur-Arroux where the final climb of the day will begin. The climb to Uchon is 4.9KM but is split in two distinct segments. The first segment is 3.1KM at 5% but the last is 1,800M and averages over 10.5%. The climb will suit the strongest of the GC riders. Gaps will form and we should see further clarification of who is a real contender for the race overall.
Perhaps the Paris-Nice should be renamed to "The Race Away from the Sun" for this edition because when the riders woke up this morning, they found heavy rain and wind lashing their windows after previous days of sunshine. It took just 5KM after the flag dropped for echelons to form and the race to break into pieces. The entire day was a team pursuit among groups along the road. When live coverage began with 58KM to go, on the descent of the Côte de la Croix des Cerisiers, Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe were riding hard in the front group which contained around 35 riders. 1 minute behind was second overall, Kévin Vauquelin of Ineos, chasing in a group of around 20 riders with the rest of the field scattered further behind on the course. Other riders in the Vauquelin group were Lenny Martinez of Bahrain Victorious, Alex Baudin of EF-Education EasyPost, and Harold Tejada of XDS-Astana.
Contenders in the front group were Jonas Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike, Brandon McNulty of UAE-XRG, Juan Ayuso of Lidl-Trek, Oscar Onley of Ineos, and Dani Martinez of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe
A crash earlier in the day for Onley caused a bike issue and with 54KM to go, he dropped out of the front group to make a change. Josh Tarling dropped back with him but Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe took the opportunity to force Tarling and Onley to chase hard. The pair were stuck at 20 seconds for a long time and, in the end, never made it back on. With 47KM to go, a major crash in the front group saw McNulty and his teammate Nils Politt hit the deck along with Juan Ayuso and a few others. Ayuso and McNulty each abandoned the stage but further analysis afterwards indicated no fractures for either rider. As a result of the crash, the front group was cut down to seven riders, five of which were from Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe. The only two not from the German squad were Vingegaard and Mathias Vacek of Lidl-Trek.
With 34KM to go, Onley caught up with the riders who were split off from the front group after the Ayuso/McNulty crash but they were still 45 seconds from the Vingegaard group which was now six with Vacek having been dropped. At the intermediate sprint in Autun, Vingegaard took the bonus seconds ahead Martinez and the GC was quickly becoming a two horse race. Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe were effectively towing Vingegaard along but also solidifying Martinez in second place. When they arrived at the Côte de la Croix de la Libération with 28KM to go, Nico Denz of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe pulled out of the front group after a job well done. Mick Van Dijke and Tim van Dijke were still working for Martinez and the gaps behind were expanding. The Onley group was out to 1 minute 10 seconds with Vauquelin and company at over 2 minutes 30 seconds.
Onley capitulated on the Côte de la Croix de la Libération and lost over 1 minute by the top. Georg Steinhauser of EF-Education EasyPost emerged as the strongest from the Onley group and went clear on his own. With 14KM to go, on the descent to Mesvres, the Vauquelin group caught Onley to form a group of around 15 riders but they were at 2 minutes 45 seconds from Vingegaard, with Steinhauser in the middle at 1 minute 40 seconds.
The Van Dijke brothers continued powering at the front of the race to the base of the final climb to Uchon. Tim Van Dijke was the last domestique standing and emptied himself for Martinez. He only pulled off the front with 1,100M to go when the road was at its steepest. With the 1KM banner hanging above, Vingegaard made his one and only move and there was no reaction from Martinez. A gap formed immediately and Vingegaard was off. He danced up the steep slopes, into the mist, and across the finish line to take the win on a most memorable day. Martinez came home 41 seconds later with Tim van Dijke in third at 45 seconds. The rest of the field was decimated. Steinhauser finished fifth at 2 minutes 54 seconds, Vauquelin at 3 minutes 38 seconds and Lenny Martinez at 4 minutes 2 seconds. Twelve riders did not finish on a day that many will remember for years to come.
Vingegaard now leads the GC by 52 seconds to Martinez and 3 minutes 20 seconds to Steinhauser. The race feels wrapped up with little in the balance but anything can happen in bike racing and there is a long way to go before Nice.
Tags: Paris-Nice, 2026, Paris-Nice 2026, Stage 4, March, Bourges, Uchon, Jonas Vingegaard, Dani Martinez, Nico Denz, Mick Van Dijke, Tim van Dijke, Georg Steinhauser