Poels wins Paris-Nice time trial, Sanchez keeps overall lead

SAINT-ETIENNE, France (AP) — Luis Leon Sanchez kept the leader’s jersey after the fourth stage of the Paris-Nice race on Wednesday as Wout Poels of the Netherlands powered to victory in the 18.5-kilometer time trial around Saint-Etienne.

Four-time Spanish time-trial champion Sanchez posted the seventh fastest time, 28 seconds off the pace.

The 2009 winner has a 15-second lead over Team Sky rider Poels in the general classification, with Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe a further 11 seconds behind in third.

Poels, who won the Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic in 2016, had no problem tackling the small Saint-Heand climb 10.4 kilometers from the finish and looked comfortable on the technical parts of the stage.

Poels was 11 seconds faster than Marc Soler of Spain. Alaphilippe ended third, 16 seconds adrift.

Thursday’s fifth stage takes the peloton to Sisteron on a hilly 165-kilometer ride featuring four climbs.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For security, use of Google's reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

I agree to these terms.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.