The Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceunick) won the fourth stage of the 110th Tour de France along the 182 kilometers between Dax and Nogaro. In an almost identical repeat of what happened yesterday at the finish line in Bayonne, the Fleming preceded the same two opponents in reverse order. This time the second place went to the Australian Caleb Ewan (Lotto Dstny) ahead of the German Philip Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious). Nothing has changed in the general standings with the British Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) still in the yellow jersey with a six second advantage over the pairing formed by his twin brother Simon (Team Jayco AlUla) and his captain Tadej Pogacar.
It didn’t take a crystal ball to predict the soporific trend of today’s fraction of which the first half is spent in the name of nothing. The race was animated, only temporarily, by the intermediate sprint of Notre-Dame des Cyclistes which awarded points for the points classification. The irrepressible Philipsen was the first to pass ahead of the Frenchman Bryan Coquard (Team Cofidis) and the Danish Mads Pedersen (Lidl Trek). In this way the Belgian snatched the green jersey from Victor Lafay (Team Cofidis), in vain defended by his teammate Coquard. The all-transalpine duo formed by Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroen) and Anthony Delaplace (Arkea Samsic) set off at the moment of the sprint who, without ever reaching a minute’s lead, did 50 kilometers ahead, being resumed under the minus 25 banner upon arrival.
At this point we witnessed the usual tussle between the formations of the sprinters and those of the classification men, the former interested in gaining positions in view of the final sprint with the latter concerned with bringing their respective captains unscathed to the neutralization of the 3,000 meters. After this fateful threshold, coinciding with the entrance to the racetrack where the finish line was, we witnessed an anarchic phase in which no train was able to take over due to the very wide roadway combined with a series of bends 180° which imposed slowdowns at the head of the platoon. Then, at less than 500 metres, with an action identical to the previous day, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Deceunick) exploded all his power launching Philipsen towards an encore despite the late return of the stubborn Ewan, the only one who hadn’t raised White flag.
Tomorrow should definitely change the music in the fifth stage, before the two Pyrenees, along the 163 kilometers from Pau to Laruns. After an initial flat stretch, the riders will tackle the long Col de Soudet, the first Hors Categorie of this year. The problem is that the summit is located 75 kilometers from the finish: it is unlikely that any big fish will take the initiative. The same goes for the following Col d’Ichère, a third category GPM which is also far from the finish line. If there’s action, and I wouldn’t be too sure, we’ll see it on the last ascent of the day: the Col de Marie Blanque. From the top to the finish line there will then be 18 kilometers initially of descent followed by a slightly uphill stretch up to the final banner.
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