Having had much bad luck in his first tests after coming back from suspension, Frank Schleck indicated that he may still return to his best when he crested the summit of the final climb in yesterday's Paris-Nice with the 10 best riders. The Luxembourger now hopes to show himself in the upcoming stages.

An attack on the final climb with under 18 kilometers to go in the 201.5 kilometer stage four saw Tom Jelte Slagter (Garmin Sharp) ride clear with Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) following close behind. The two crested the climb in front and held on to their slim margin over a chasing group to finish one-two on the stage.

Slagter out sprinted Thomas for the victory, while Thomas claimed the leader’s jersey with his second place, now three seconds ahead of John Degenkiolb (Giant Shimano) who drops to second in the overall. Behind the chasing group crossed the finish line five seconds later, with Fränk Schleck in 19th position.

The early breakaway included Trek Factory Racing’s Laurent Didier. He joined Valerio Agnoli (Astana) and Perrig Quemeneur (Europecar) after 11 kilometers, with Jesus Herrada Lopez (Movistar) bridging to the trio a few kilometers later.

The gap to the four riders hovered around five minutes, gaining the most time (+6’20”) at the 111-kilometer mark. The quartet was eventually brought back at the start of the last climb, only 18 kilometers from the finish.

“The battle to get in the break was hard,” Didier explained. “It took eight kilometers to get it established. We never wanted to take too much time, so we did not ride too hard a pace in front. We did not want to take more than five or six minutes lead, this way the peloton would not chase too hard. The goal was to save energy for the ending hills. We did the max for the last 30km, and when the big teams started to pull, then the gap went down. They caught us at the bottom of the last climb.

“I have to say I am not too tired because we did not ride too hard in the break. [Sport director] Kim [Andersen] advised me to go for the intermediate sprints because to take the bonus seconds, you never know at the end - if we make it, then I have the leader’s jersey.”

It was a hard fight for positioning leading into the final ascent, the decisive moment of the race so far. It was bad luck for Andy Schleck who punctured just before the climb, leaving him with no chance to get back to the front. However, Fränk Schleck proved his form is improving with each race as he crested the climb in the top 10, finishing comfortably in the front group that chased the two leading riders into the finish.

“I actually started near the back at the start of the last climb. It was hectic and nervous and some crashes as everyone was fighting for positioning. I did not panic in the beginning I just waited for the guys in front to slow down. They had to at one point. Once I was up there I saw the other guys also hurting, and that gave me a psychological boost. It was good for my confidence to stay up there with the top 10.

“It was a very important stage, especially for me. For me to be top 10 over the last climb gives me a good feeling for the rest of the week.  Its unfortunate I lost a minute the first day, so now it’s just a matter to take it day by day. If the opportunity comes I would like to take the risk to try something.

“[The break] was well managed by Laurent [Didier] and Kim [Andersen]. If they would take 10 minutes in the beginning, which I believed they could have done, then the peloton would have had to ride harder earlier. It was good tactics. Obviously, we knew we would catch them at some point. But no matter what, you have to try and it was a good effort by Laurent; really the whole team showed today that we are right there. If we have a bit more luck the opportunity will come.”

Bob Jungels finished in the second group, only 18 seconds behind the stage winner Slagter, and continues to be the highest placed in GC for the team, sitting in 28th (+32").

You can read a preview of stage 5 here and follow our live coverage at 14.25 CET on CyclingQuotes.com/live.