Philippe Gilbert's day in the breakaway Wednesday at Paris-Nice earned the past world road champion the King of the Mountains jersey while a part of BMC Racing teammates remain within striking distance of the lead with four days to go.

Gilbert said it was not his intention to chase the special classification. But the past world road champion seized the opportunity to escape in the first 10 kilometers of the 179-km race and went on to grab maximum points on the day's three categorized climbs.

"We started really easy, like the two previous days, and I wanted to do some efforts," Gilbert said. "So I just passed the bunch - not too fast - hoping someone would follow me. But just one guy (Florian Vachon of Bretagne Seche-Environment) came with me.

"I am proud to have this climbers jersey because Paris-Nice is one of the nicest races of the season. I think it is very important also for the BMC Racing Team to have this jersey."

Gilbert's breakaway with Vachon was far from ordinary. After nearly 70 kilometers of freedom, it appeared the pair would be brought back when their lead dropped to less than a minute. But Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar) used the opportunity to jump across to the two, and, with fresh legs in the escape, the trio rapidly built the lead back to more than five minutes.

"When the peloton first chased us, we thought we had no chance to go and we almost stopped," Gilbert said. "But when Voeckler came up, we decided to go faster and try. But it was a lot of headwind so it was not really possible to go against the bunch. But at least we tried and the good thing is I was able to get the points for the climber's jersey.

"It's not my first polka-dot jersey. I even held one on the Tour de France. It will be hard to keep because there are eight climbs tomorrow and I won't go in a break again. But it's nice to have it. I just tried to go to shake the legs off and I got caught up in my own game. It was a strange race because our lead went up to five minutes and then down to three. We nearly stopped and I was hoping for a couple of riders to join us. Voeckler moved and off we went again. We didn't make it but its' always good to ride at the front."

Eventually, all three riders were brought back in the final 20 kilometers. Michael Matthews (ORICA-GreenEDGE) won the uphill finish ahead of Davide Cimolai (Lampre-Merida) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing) to take a one-second lead and the yellow leader's jersey from prologue winner Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-Quick Step). Gilbert's teammate, Rohan Dennis, is third overall, tied on time with Kwiatkowski, while BMC Racing Team leader Tejay van Garderen, sits 12th overall, 15 seconds off the lead.

"Tomorrow is a stage for the general classification," BMC Racing Team Sport Director Yvon Ledanois said. "Philippe took the jersey and for us it is perfect. We do not have the pressure for tomorrow and Tejay is very motivated."