If an alien, ignoring the warnings of their well-informed mates, ever decides to venture to Earth and asks you what professional cycling is all about, you could do a lot worse than showing them stage four of the 2026 Paris-Nice.
Because Wednesday’s 195km trek across central France from Bourges to Uchon had everything you could possibly expect from a bike race, especially one held in mid-March: apocalyptic conditions, crosswinds, freezing temperatures, echelons, a horrible ramp towards the finish, shocking misfortune for some of the big favourites, a plucky French hero limiting his losses, selfless teamwork, and individual brilliance.
Stage four, 2026 Paris-Nice (Image Credit: ASO/Billy Ceusters)
And it also featured something brand new, fresh, and exciting: Jonas Vingegaard’s layering choices.
As he followed the Red Bull train through the murk of the Morvan mountain range, the two-time Tour de France winner slowly stripped off, peeling away layer after layer, to reveal one of the most unique clothing arrangements cycling has ever seen.
The flapping, backwards jacket was fair enough, a staple of freezing mountainous descents where zipping up is a perilous task.
But the pièce de resistance, uncovered when that last jacket was tossed to the side of the road, was those bib tights, their straps hoisted over the top of his yellow skinsuit, blowing in the wind.
Jonas Vingegaard and his bib tights win stage four, 2026 Paris-Nice (Image Credit: ASO/Billy Ceusters)
The now viral extra-long tights, Visma revealed later, were worn over another base pair of bib tights, their chamois surgically removed and waist cut by Vingegaard’s teammate Victor Campenaerts, to ensure the team leader wasn’t floating several centimetres above his saddle.
The plan was to have them ripped off by two teammates later in the stage, so Vingegaard could remove the rest of the tights as if they were a pair of legwarmers. But the chaos inflicted in the crosswinds meant that opportunity never arose, spawning arguably the most iconic moment of the 2026 season so far.
“Jonas in his dungarees,” laughed TNT Sports commentator Rob Hatch.
As he accelerated away from Dani Martínez to win the stage, the Dane looked less like one of the greatest grand tour racers of his era, and more like that fella from work, who’s recently unearthed his rusty, neglected racer from the back of the garage and has resorted to sticking an old baggy pair of bibs over his clothes for the commute. Or like he was paying some weird tribute to Laurent Fignon and Castorama.
In short, it was what cycling – and Paris-Nice, in particular – is all about.
Stage four, 2026 Paris-Nice (Image Credit: ASO/Billy Ceusters)
Vingegaard’s natty attire reflected the chaos unfolding on the road, of a race blown to bits and beyond anyone’s control and pre-planning.
Gone was the tactical finesse, the meticulous preparation, the watts-watching exhibitions, the sheer predictability of previous races this spring. Instead, miserable, freezing, pale-faced riders struggled as they crossed the line on their own, in dribs and drabs, minutes, not seconds, separating the top ten.
In short, they were suffering. It was like a sudden jolt back to cycling’s so-called heroic age, where just making it to the finish was a feat of valiant endeavour. Tadej Pogačar may have ripped up cycling’s ultimate throwback race, Strade Bianche, for the fourth time in his career at the weekend. But he certainly wasn’t suffering like they did at Paris-Nice on Wednesday.
Suffering also occurred, of course, in less heroic ways: the image of race leader Juan Ayuso curled up on the grass, his race and almost certainly his spring over in an instant, a reminder of cycling’s cruellest side. A crash also scuppered Oscar Onley’s chances too, the Scot’s final 50km a slow-motion public display of resource depletion.
Stage four, 2026 Paris-Nice (Image Credit: ASO/Billy Ceusters)
But all of that – the good, the bad, and the dungarees – is what Paris-Nice is about. The Race to the Sun (the clue’s in the name, don’t expect good weather) traditionally thrives on chaos, on danger at every windy turn, on revelling in the unexpected.
The late 2000s and early 2010s threw up several days like stage four, when the race was upended in a few exhilarating hours. But it’s been a while since Paris-Nice enthralled us like it did on Wednesday. It was an antidote to the discontent swirling around men’s bike racing at the minute, a sport where one team appears in total control.
And if it’s one thing cycling fans want, it’s chaos, not control.
Jonas Vingegaard jokingly described himself as a “trendsetter” following his viral bibs moment. Who knows, maybe stage four of Paris-Nice could kickstart a new era for both chaotic racing and cycling fashion?