Tinkoff-Saxo had high hopes for Rafal Majka in Paris-Nice but they were all dashed when the race hit the hills in yesterday's stage. A disastrous puncture at the bottom of the final climb ruined all his GC chances on a bad day where Matti Breschel was also forced to abandon.

It was a day to forget for Tinkoff-Saxo in Paris-Nice. In the first flat stages, the team had carefully protected their GC ace Rafal Majka who was well-placed on GC ahead of yesterday's first hilly stage of the race.

Just as the peloton got up to speed in the fierce battle for position for the final climb, however, Majka had a disastrous puncture and even though his teammates did their best to get him back, it was too late. The Pole ended up losing 4.15 to stage winner Tom-Jelte Slagter and is now out of the battle for the overall standings.

Instead, the team's best rider was Chris Anker Sørensen who finished in the second chase group, 18 seconds back. As he had already lost more than a minute on stage one, however, the GC is over for the team.

“It was a bad day for us," Sørensen said. "Karsten (Kroon) and Ivan (Rovny) crashed, Matti (Breschel) abandoned the race while Rafa (Majka) had a puncture at the bottom of the climb where the fireworks commenced. I wasn’t feeling very well and I’m disappointed with this result.

"However, with both Rafa and me out of the GC, it opens new opportunities for a stage win as the GC riders won’t be too concerned if we move up the road. Rafa and Nicki both look very strong and if things turn their way, they are definitely in contention for a win. My best chances for a win will be the stage on Friday. It’s a long ride, it gets pretty rough in the finale and I’m way behind in the general classification."

Breschel abandoned the race at the midpoint of the stage after having suffered in the first stages due to the effects from a crash in the Tour of Oman.

“Matti has done three stages in high pace and his rhythm on the bike is good but the pain in his hand has grown worse and I think it would be wiser to abandon the race at this moment. The race kilometers here would have been good for his form but he has to be able to handle his bike as well so he’s going home to get some training done instead and we can only hope for a speedy recovery,” commented Tinkoff-Saxo DS, Fabrizio Guidi after the stage.

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