Julian Alaphilippe leads Paris-Nice after winning Wednesday's time-trial
By Andy Charles
Last Updated: 08/03/17 4:54pm
Julian Alaphilippe is the new leader of Paris-Nice after a storming ride to win Wednesday's fourth stage, a taxing individual time-trial.
Alaphilippe clocked a time of 21 minutes and 39 seconds for the 14.5km stage, which concluded with the second category climb of Mont Brouilly.
The Frenchman, who rides for Quick-Step Floors, was 19 seconds faster than race favourite Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) and a further second ahead of Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal).
Gallopin is Alaphilippe's closest pursuer in the race for the yellow jersey, some 33 seconds adrift with Gorka Izaguirre (Movistar) 47 seconds back.
Team Sky's Sergio Luis Henao moved up to fourth place overall, just over a minute behind Alaphilippe after finishing eighth on Wednesday's stage.
Ireland's Dan Martin rounds out the top five ahead of one more relatively flat stage on Thursday - the race then concludes with three mountainous stages which include a total of eight first category climbs.
Stage 4 result:
1 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors 21m 39s
2 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo +19s
3 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal +20s
4 Gorka Izaguirre (Spa) Movistar same time
5 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin +33s
Overall standings:
1 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors 12h 36m 27s
2 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal +33s
3 Gorka Izaguirre (Spa) Movistar +47s
4 Sergio Luis Henao (Col) Team Sky +1:05
5 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors +1:20
