After yesterday’s slow promenade start to the day, today’s stage promised much more action with a tailwind start and a final 30km packed with short, sharp climbs, small roads and numerous corners.
A much more interesting stage profile for the attackers and punchy riders today
The break of the day went without any trouble from the start and it was Lenny Martinez (Bahrain), Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X), and Thomas Gachignard (Totale Energies) who formed the lead trio and they quickly built a lead of 1m30s over the Alpecin-Deceuninck led peloton. It was at this moment that EF’s Kasper Asgreen thought it might be a nice day for a break and he took off on a lone chase.
The break of the day
Asgreen mde it across after a few kilometers and the four brave escapees worked well all day but the peloton never gave them enough leeway and as they approached the five categorized climbs their led was becoming slimmer and slimmer.
Over the Cote Jaques Anquetil, Asgreen took the only point available in a tight sprint and then on the 2nd climb Lenny Martinez attacked solo and took the two points ahead of the fast closing peloton.
By the time the 3rd of the 5 climbs was started the race was back together but the tension was high and there were numerous crashes but no big names went down.
UAE took control to keep Pogacar safe and try and set him up for the victory and the pace was on! Stage outsiders like Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) were dropped along with Ben O’Connor (Jayco) on the 4th climb as he had to say goodbye to his top 10 placing on GC that he had held since the start of the race.
Over the top of the climb it was Jumbo/Lease a Bike who took control and what was left of the peloton was in single file on the narrow streets of Rouen with gaps opening everywhere on the approach to the final climb. GC outsiders like Felix Gall (Decathlon-Ag2r) & Butriago (Bahrain) were dropped before the climb was even started under the incessant pace of Victor Campenaerts.
Victor Campenaerts pulled some incredible turns on the front day today and really put the hurt on the peloton
On to the climb and it was UAE who took back control, Almeida increased the pace, the peloton was only 15 riders strong and then Tadej Pogacar put in a big attack. Only Vingegaard could follow and the pairing had a 15 second gap at the summit over a small group of riders that contained Evenepoel and Van der Poel.
The two groups came back together on the descent and then it would be down to the slightly uphill sprint to decide the stage. Normally Van der Poel would be the quickest but the pace of the final 30km weighed heavily on his legs and Pogacar was simply too strong, sprinting to his 100th professionl victory. Van der Poel just held on to 2nd which was enough to save his yellow jersey and Vingegaard claimed third.
An exciting end to a very explosive final of the stage and if the racing continues like this then we are in for a superb Tour de France this year! Time trial tomorrow, can Vingegaard strike back like he did in the Dauphiné?
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Tour de France Stage 4 Results:
01 Pogacar Tadej UAE Team Emirates-XRG 03:50:29
02 van der Poel Mathieu Alpecin-Deceuninck + 00
03 Vingegaard Jonas Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 00
04 Onley Oscar Team Picnic PostNL + 00
05 Grégoire Romain Groupama-FDJ + 00
06 Almeida João UAE Team Emirates-XRG + 00
07 Evenepoel Remco Soudal Quick-Step + 03
08 Jorgenson Matteo Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 03
09 Skjelmose Mattias Lidl-Trek + 07
10 Vauquelin Kévin ARKEA-B&B HOTELS + 10
11 van Aert Wout Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 30
12 Paret-Peintre Aurélien Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale + 30
13 Baudin Alex EF Education-EasyPost + 30
14 Narvaez Jhonatan UAE Team Emirates-XRG + 30
15 Johannessen Tobias Halland Uno-X Mobility + 30
Tour de France Overall After Stage 4:
01 van der Poel Mathieu Alpecin-Deceuninck 16:46:00
02 Pogacar Tadej UAE Team Emirates-XRG + 00
03 Vingegaard Jonas Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 08
04 Jorgenson Matteo Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 19
05 Vauquelin Kévin ARKEA-B&B HOTELS + 26
06 Mas Enric Movistar Team + 48
07 Onley Oscar Team Picnic PostNL + 55
08 Almeida João UAE Team Emirates-XRG + 55
09 Evenepoel Remco Soudal Quick-Step + 58
10 Skjelmose Mattias Lidl-Trek + 01:02
11 Johannessen Tobias Halland Uno-X Mobility + 01:17
12 Paret-Peintre Aurélien Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale + 01:25
13 Roglic Primoz Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe + 01:27
14 Hirschi Marc Tudor Pro Cycling Team + 01:30
15 Blackmore Joe Israel-Premier Tech + 01:41
16 Martin-Guyonnet Guillaume Groupama-FDJ + 01:49
17 Buitrago Santiago Bahrain Victorious + 01:49
18 Berckmoes Jenno Lotto + 01:49
19 Gall Felix Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale + 01:49
20 Lipowitz Florian Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe + 01:49
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