Van Aert takes over Paris-Nice lead after winning time trial

Belgium's Wout van Aert, frustrated in the previous day’s sprint finish, moved to the top of the Paris-Nice general classification today with victory in the stage four time-trial

The 27-year-old Tokyo 2020 road race silver medallist completed the 13.4 kilometres route from Domerat to Montlucon in 16min 20sec, leading home a one-two-three for his team Jumbo-Visma, which has dominated this race - set to conclude on Sunday (March 13) - from the off.

At the halfway point in this International Cycling Union (UCI) WorldTour race, van Aert, who took over the leader’s yellow jersey from French team-mate Christophe Laporte, has clocked an overall total of 11hr 51min 05sec.

Laporte, who suffered a fall at the finish in yesterday’s third stage, dropped to third in the overall standings, 28 seconds behind the leader, as his team-mate Primož Roglic of Slovenia, who crashed out when leading on the final stage last year, moved up to second position, ten seconds behind. 

Roglic took second place on the day, two seconds slower than van Aert, and the third man on the podium was fellow Jumbo-Visma rider Rohan Dennis of Australia, who was six seconds behind.

Tomorrow's fifth stage is set to follow a 188.8 kilometres route from Saint-Just-Saint-Rambert to Saint-Saveur-de-Montagut.

VIDEO: 2022 Paris-Nice Stage 4 Highlights

2022 Paris-Nice Stage 4 Top 10

1 Wout Van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma 0:16:20
2 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma 0:00:02
3 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Jumbo-Visma 0:00:06
4 Stefan Kung (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:10
5 Simon Yates (GBr) BikeExchange-Jayco 0:00:11
6 Ethan Hayter (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:14
7 Pierre Latour (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:00:19
8 Stefan Bissegger (Swi) EF Education-EasyPost 0:00:21
9 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:25
10 Daniel Martinez Poveda (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:28

2022 Paris-Nice GC after Stage 4

1 Wout Van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma 11:51:05
2 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma 0:00:10
3 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Jumbo-Visma 0:00:28
4 Simon Yates (GBr) BikeExchange-Jayco 0:00:49
5 Pierre Latour (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:00:51
6 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:53
7 Daniel Martinez Poveda (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:01:06
8 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:09
9 Stefan Bissegger (Swi) EF Education-EasyPost 0:01:13
10 Soren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team DSM 0:01:19