An ill-timed puncture cost Sylvain Chavanel any hope of competing for stage four, and the overall prize as a result. It was a stage he had clearly fancied, and the Tour de France stage winner and former French national road and time trial champion was keen to bounce back according to team boss Eddy Seigneur. And bounce back he did, in some style. Refusing to let the previous day’s events bring him down, he switched tactics almost seamlessly. From initially harnessing GC ambitions he instead got himself among elite company in the day’s break.

And once there he set about bringing down King of the Mountains Valerio Agnoli’s lead in the climbing classification. And even when his day in the break was over, he was still keen to man the situation and secure at least a day in the polka dot jersey. When team-mate Stephan Denifl went up the road on the final climb, it was clear Chavanel was desperate to protect the lead he had just earned. And it worked too, with several counter-attacks ensuring it was Astana’s Vincenzo Nibali, and not Agnoli, who crossed the summit first. His overall ambitions may have slipped away, but Chavanel is desperate not to leave Paris-Nice empty-handed.