Geraint Thomas fifth at Paris-Nice as Nacer Bouhanni wins stage four

Geraint Thomas recovered from a crash to retain fifth place overall at Paris-Nice as Nacer Bouhanni sprinted to victory on stage four.

Thomas (Team Sky) fell with about 35km remaining after a touch of wheels but was able to rejoin the peloton and crossed the line 11th on the day.

He remains 19 seconds down on overall leader Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge), who finished fifth on the day, just ahead of Britain's Ben Swift (Team Sky) in sixth.

Bouhanni (Cofidis) had his win on stage two taken away from him for veering off his racing line but there was no such disappointment 48 hours on as he beat Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) into second and Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) into third.

The eight-day race continues on Friday with a hilly 198km fifth stage from Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux to Salon-de-Provence.

Stage four result

1. Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, 4:42:29

2. Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo, same time

3. Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal, st

4. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha, st

5. Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, st

General classification

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, 14:24:15

2. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, +14sec

3. Patrick Bevin (NZ) Cannondale, +19

4. Ion Izagirre (Esp) Movistar, same time 

5. Geraint Thomas (GB) Team Sky, st