Ben O’Connor began Wednesday’s stage 4 of Paris-Nice well-placed in fourth total and with a optimistic way of thinking after a powerful second for Jayco-AlUla within the group time trial, nonetheless the icy rain that prompted a pause within the race might have additionally poured chilly water over the Australian’s GC hopes on the eight-stage race.
O’Connor crossed the end line on the high of La Loge des Gardes in twenty seventh spot, 2:10 down on stage 4 winner João Almeida (UAE Staff Emirates). That consequence despatched him tumbling down the overall classification 16 spots to twentieth, and he’s now sitting 2:30 down on new race chief Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), who got here second to Almeida on the stage.
“Yesterday was a terrific day for us, immediately not so good,” stated sport director Matthew Hayman on a Jayco-AlUla social media post. “However there may be nonetheless numerous racing right here and the blokes are going properly.
“It was fairly unlucky however we’re not carried out with this Paris-Good.”
O’Connor had headed into Wednesday’s stage comfortable along with his place on the general, simply 21 seconds behind the highest spot, and encouraged by the team time trial.
“We put in a terrific efficiency as a group however personally I felt like I used to be in charge of my race inside that TTT so it was signal,” O’Connor had stated earlier than the beginning in an interview put out by Jayco-AlUla. “If I can simply go off that then immediately [I’m] considering I can do trip.”
That, nonetheless, was earlier than the stage was turned the other way up after heavy rain, hail and sleet fell and with the security danger of descending on icy roads and the race was then paused and neutralised for a time at 46km to go.
“We have been struck with a reasonably heavy hail and ice bathe there in the midst of the stage,” stated Hayman. “It got here out of nowhere. Actually not understanding what was going to occur, the bunch was caught on the facet of the mountain … bought fairly chilly throughout that interval.”
After the pause and plenty of confusion over the continued stops and starts the race bought underway once more at 29km to go however the toll the climate, uncertainty and excessive chilly had taken was clear. Soaking moist riders struggled to attempt to heat up and get going whereas Steff Crass (Whole Energies) even needed to withdraw attributable to hypothermia.
That made for an unpredictable situation when the race exploded on the ultimate climbs, the class 2 Cote de La Chabanne with 13km to go and the seven kilometre lengthy class 1 La Loge des Gardes which delivered the summit end. Numerous riders who would usually be anticipated to do properly because the street turned up rapidly drifted away because the circumstances meant the physique did not react because it usually would.
There was no signal of O’Connor within the main fragment of the bunch that will contest the rostrum locations because the race entered the ultimate 5 kilometres and he was not alone in shedding appreciable time with others among the many GC hopefuls together with Neilson Powless (EF Schooling-EasyPost) who dropped 2:16 and Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) who shed 1:56.
Jayco-AlUla did not launch any remark from O’Connor after the stage however the disappointment could not have been clear when he crossed the road 2:10 down with a shake of the top.
