Paris-Nice: Santiago Buitrago produces stunning climb to take Stage 4, Lucas Plapp moves into yellow

Updated 06/03/2024 at 16:41 GMT

It proved to be another riveting day at the 2024 edition of Paris-Nice on Stage 4 as the general classification race was blown wide open by a brilliant attack from first Lucas Plapp and then Santiago Buitrago, as the two rising stars caught the peloton off-guard. The latter is a renowned climber, and on the last climb, the Colombian pulled away to take the win.

Inspired Buitrago triumphs on Stage 4 as Plapp moves into yellow - Highlights

A staggering climb from Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) saw him take Stage 4 of Paris-Nice and pull away from Lucas Plapp (Jayco-AlUla). who moved into the lead in the general classification.

The pair pulled away from the peloton with Plapp going first with just under 25km to go, and then being joined by Buitrago after a crash on the penultimate climb when it had seemed like the Australian would be caught.

They worked together superbly to re-establish that gap to the peloton, and on the final climb, they dug deep as the bunch began to put in the work after initially being caught out.

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However, on the ascent, Plapp was caught out when Buitrago, one of the best young climbers in the sport, found that extra hidden gear and pulled away.

The Colombian closed out to take a memorable stage win, and with the bonus seconds, he moved into true contention for the GC as Plapp took yellow.

"I didn’t expect this," Buitrago said after sealing victory. "It’s about trying, giving it a go, and I gave it a go.

"When I saw Roglic increasing the rhythm and not causing any more damage, I decided to give it a try. In the end, you don’t know how things will pan out, but I felt good, I had a good companion in Plapp, we pulled well to the final climb, and we achieved a very good result.

"A win here in France is very special for me."

Buitrago sits 13 seconds behind Plapp, with former leader Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) down in third, 27 seconds behind.

Earlier in the day, an attack from Cristian Scaroni (Astana) came early and he had various companions during the stage. Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) took full advantage in the KOM standings, picking up 25 points.

However, with under 50km to go, the peloton closed the gap and Scaroni was left all alone. He was eventually swallowed up, although not before he picked up more KOM points of his own to close the gap on leader Burgaudeau (28) to seven points.

In the intermediate sprint, some riders were caught out within the peloton, and that opened the door for Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick-Step) to take the six seconds on offer, moving him to within just 12 of then-leader McNulty.

Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe), looking to bounce back after a tough time trial, was just behind the Belgian picking up four seconds, with Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ) in third.

As the peloton reached 25km to go, there was a curious moment as Louis Vervaeke (Soudal-Quick-Step) and Plapp both went up the road.

Vervaeke clearly wasn’t happy, and after looking around, he called off the attack, but the Australian ended up pulling clear and followed no such orders, building a decent lead over the peloton as the Soudal rider rejoined the pack.

On the penultimate climb, there was a small crash that didn’t impact the GC - but it did result in some splitting from within the peloton.

Meanwhile, at the front, Buitrago pounced at the chance and went up the road to join Plapp.

As the peloton and the leaders edged towards the final climb, the gap rose, rather than shrinking, to well over half a minute as the front pair began to smell the chance for not only a stage win, but also the yellow jersey.

In terms of retirements earlier in the day, Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) had to withdraw from the race due to what his team described as “gastrointestinal issues”. Marc Soler and Gorka Izagirre also ended up withdrawing.

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