Buitrago Wins Thrilling Paris-Nice Mountain Stage

Colombian Santiago Buitrago took the first mountain stage of Paris-Nice after an exhilarating finish in the Beaujolais wine-growing region that went down to the last kilometer.

The 183 km fourth stage from Chalon-sur-Saone to Mont Brouilly featured six category two climbs and a category one in the shape of the 7.3 percent Col du Fut d'Avenas, 20km before the finishing line.

"I really did not expect this. To win a World Tour race here in France is exceptional for me," said Buitrago.

"I had good legs and a good breakaway companion with (Luke) Plapp who helped me into the finale. I'm also well placed in the GC (general ranking) so it's great."

Going pedal to pedal with Luke Plapp of Jayco AlUla, Team Bahrain's Buitrago claimed the imposing 3km final ascent of Mont Brouilly to take his first ever Paris-Nice stage victory.

Mathieu Burgaudeau and Christian Scaroni broke away from the leading pack on the ascent of Col de Durbize, with just over 50km left to race, before the Italian showed the Frenchman a clean set of wheels to streak out on his own as the summit approached.

Scaroni sat out just in front until the stage's daunting Col du Fut d'Avenas climb on the 161 km mark, where Buitrago and Plapp attacked to take the lead.

The pair battled it out neck-and-neck over the stage's last 20 kilometers until the Colombian found a final burst on the last ascent to leave his Australian competitor behind and claim the win.

Despite coming second, Plapp claims the overall leader's jersey from Brandon McNulty, who drops into third just behind stage-winner Buitrago.

Frenchman Burgaudeau of TotalEnergies held onto the polka dot jersey as the race's best climber and increased his tally to 28 points, seven ahead of Scaroni in second place.