Jonas Vingegaard loses Paris-Nice lead after early crash on Stage 5

Jonas Vingegaard had a tough day at the office while his American teammate Matteo Jorgenson put himself in good position to win his second Paris-Nice in a row on Thursday’s fifth stage. Vingegaard crashed midway through the stage and it affected his performance. Frenchman Lenny Martinez won his first race for new team Bahrain-Victorious and moved up to fifth on GC.

The GC Situation Overnight

Having gone into Wednesday’s miserable rainfest with Visma-Lease a Bike holding the top two places, the confusion of Stage 4’s neutralized delays didn’t inhibit Vingegaard from attacking on the Cat. 1 summit finish of La Loge des Gardes. However, it was UAE-Emirates’ João Almeida getting the better of Vingegaard to jump up 13 spots to fifth behind the new Danish leader and rise to the top of the mountains classification.

1) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Visma-LAB) 11:50:59
2) Matteo Jorgenson (USA/Visma-LAB) +0:05
3) Mattias Skjelmose (Denmark/Lidl-Trek) +0:33
4) Florian Lipowitz (Germany/Red Bull) +0:36
5) João Almeida (Portugal/UAE-Emirates) +0:37

The Course

After two Cat. 3s in the first half of the race, a quartet of short steep Cat. 3s (none longer than 1.3 km, nor less steep than 8 percent) set the table for the final ascent. Cat. 2 Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Sciez was 1.7 km of 10.8 percent. There was the threat of snow.

The stage started with a breakaway of 10 riders, but by the midway point only two remained–Ben Swift and Thibaud Gruel–not far ahead of the peloton. The man in the yellow jersey crashed with 84 km to go; it was Vingegaard’s first wreck since the devastating carnage at last year’s Itzulia Basque Country.

The first of the narrow, steep little climbs, Côte du Chateau Jaune, drew Swift-Gruel closer. Swift’s teammate Tobias Foss used the next ascent, Côte de Sibuze, to bridge over. Côte de Chavagneux was where Foss went solo. Foss had a 1:10 advantage by the start of penultimate climb Côte d’Arzay with 18 km to go.

Foss would come to heel with 4.6 km to go and Lidl-Trek towed third-place Skjelmose to the foot of Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Sciez. UAE-Emirates’s Brandon McNulty, a major player in last year’s race, picked up the pace on the steep grades. Vingegaard popped and then Skjelmose started to lag. Jorgenson kept pushing. Martinez attacked up the left side and took the win. Vingegaard crossed the line in 16th.

Friday is more of a sprinters stage.

2025 Paris-Nice, Stage 5
1) Lenny Martinez (France/Bahrain-Victorious) 4:36:23
2) Clément Champoussin (France/XDS Astana) +0:03
3) Matteo Jorgenson (USA/Visma-LAB) s.t.

2025 Paris-Nice GC
1) Matteo Jorgenson (USA/Visma-LAB) 14:27:26
2) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Visma-LAB) +0:22
3) Florian Lipowitz (Germany/Red Bull) +0:36
4) João Almeida (Portugal/UAE-Emirates) +0:40
5) Lenny Martinez (France/Bahrain-Victorious) +0:55