Present at a press conference after the 4th stage of Paris-Nice, Jonas Vingegaard did not hide his disappointment.
Jonas Vingegaard does not take off. This Wednesday, the weather turned upside down the fourth stage of Paris-Nice, between Vichy and the Loge des Gardes. The race had to be temporarily suspended after 120 km due to hail. The runners had to face an execrable weather, leaving several of them transmitted with cold and disoriented. The organization thus made the decision to neutralize the fourth stage, about 45 kilometers from the finish.
After several minutes when stopped, the runners resumed their journey in “fictitious departure” mode, without taking any risk, on roads made very slippery by climatic conditions. The race was finally able to resume 29 kilometers from the finish. “All the runners who were there will remember this stage”declares Thibault Guernalec. If some runners were waiting for the recovery, others, like Jonas Vingegaard, believe that the race should never have resumed.
Divided runners
“No one liked this step, certainly the coldest that I have never known. The race should have been stopped! »»says the Danish. “The brakes did not work well. Maybe we should have discussed more between runners and being more united ”regrets the leader of Visma-Lease A Bike, annoyed at a press conference. For his part, João Almeida, winner of the stage, believes that at the time of the recovery, there was no more security concerns for the runners and that the stage could therefore continue normally.
