Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) won his 100th professional bike race in style, besting Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease-A-Bike) and Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) on Stage 4 of the Tour de France.
The Slovenian moves level on time with Van Der Poel, but the Dutch rider keeps the yellow jersey by virtue of combined stage placing.
The race saw the favourites for the general classification tested, as Pogacar went on the offensive for the first time.
His attack on the final climb thinned the leading group, and meant he could out-sprint Van Der Poel to take the stage win.
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I mean, if we weren’t, then that would would be very dangerous. But stage four, here we are. It’s all underway. And we have a breakaway. Thankfully, it’s four riders. One of them is Lenny Martinez, who looks very much out of place in this group of four. mainly because he’s tiny and he looks out of place in any group of rulers at any level. Weirdly enough though, he is furthest down the general classification of this front four. And by the gap that the pelon have not given them, then none of these four are going to be moving into the virtual lead of Tad Teddy of Machu Vanderpole. Maybe spoiler there. Match of Vanderpole’s general classification with Casper Razgrren the nearest at 3 minutes 32. Tom Gashinar joins him in the breakaway at 4 minutes 11. Yas Abrahamson at 558 and Lenny Martinez at 14 minutes 24 complete the breakaway. So, a quartet up front and a quartet that will have to wait for Lenny Martinez or go at whatever pace Lenny Martinez goes at with a breakaway, especially at this point in the race. You can only go as fast as your slowest guy, and Lenny Martinez is going to be the slowest guy in this breakaway. Gashinar, his fellow Frenchman, is a very good ruler, albeit not to the level of the two Scandinavian riders that accompany him. Casper Asgren needs no introduction. An absolute powerhouse of the sport. and Yonas Abrahamson, a rider who has, as of recent, come to the forefront of people’s knowledge with plenty of inspired breakaway attempts at the Tour to France, including stage two of last year where he finished second. And it is a similar stage that we have in prospect profile-wise today. These four have not been given any more than two and a half minutes because Alpasindernic have been controlling more specifically Silvan Dillier who is once again doing his job and doing it very well. It’s all he works for. It’s all he does in training is just keeping a group pinned and he’s got Lenny Martinez to keep tabs on for this stage. Martinez should be able to get away if he’s with the rest of the breakaway on the many climbs that end off today’s stage. And we’ll see how that goes as we get closer to the end. But for now, it’s relatively flat roads and a relatively constant gap between the breakaway and the pelaton. [Music] I’m just throwing on race radio now. kind of forgot to do that before the stream started. We’re still in the uh the learning process on this channel. Even after five years, I still can’t get it right. Cool. I now have radio tour in my ears. [Music] So, we got one rider at the back of the race. Tomaggasha is up front for Total Energy. And Matthew Burgido is currently hanging out at the rear about 30 seconds just under behind the Pelaton. But we’ve got Total Energy Jersey top and tailing the race at the moment. And Total Energy finally doing their job getting a rider in the breakaway. And a breakaway that is starting to up the tempo compared to early on in the stage. And it’s Casper Asgren that’s forcing it. And it’s his teammates that are moving up. Led by Michael Valddren with Harry Sweeney on his wheel competing with Alpasinda Kernink. There is still a while actually until the intermediate sprint. So is this just a battle for position or is there murmurings of crosswinds in the making? I guess we’ll have to wait to find out. Vanderpole stretching out the neck looks fairly comfortable in the Pelaton as do Vizma Lisa bike who have chosen to sit on the train of Alpha Cinder Kernik who still lead the way the Pelaton going over 50 kilometers an hour on the flat roads with 74 and a half kilometers to go on my stream. now 74.4 and it will turn to 74.3 now. So in case you wanted to sync up but Matio is almost back after taking what I assume is some assistance from the team car. It didn’t I’m not aware of any crashes happening at least in the early part of today. I kind of did stop watching for about half an hour as Laurens Rex goes back for some help from the Intermarie team car. He did that earlier in the previous stage as well before the intermediate sprint and he was a key figure in the intermediate sprint as we’ll get to later on I am sure. But the Pelaton patrolling the planes and it’s also turning left hand side of the road who are leading the way. EF Education Easy Post have opted for the opposite side of the road with Jacob Alula moving in next to them. And then there’s a slight gap in the middle for one team to perhaps come through. That team that have decided to do it on the left hand side is Arca B&B Hotels. Mattis Leair is in that train or duo of riders that have forged a path as ITV are doing an interview with Cedric Vaser of Coffeeis who was quite rightfully I’d say a little bit annoyed at the yellow card that Brien Krokar received at the end of the stage yesterday for causing that incident at the intermediate sprint. And I’m sure he’s making his feelings known to ITV, which is the stream that I am watching this race on at the moment. But the Pelaton are continuing to press on and this will be interesting to work out where they land in terms of the breakaway at the end of this descent because I’m think that is what is causing the pace as Danny Van Pppppel is at the rear of the Pelaton. Another rider who got into a bit of trouble with Burgo just flying past there in the total energies kit. [Music] But no, Vasa is uh going to be a agrieved man as is Brion Krokar because I agree and many of the other sports directors agree that Kar didn’t deserve the yellow card that he received and we will get on to that. I’ve been monitoring many a post-race conference or interview with the media. [Music] But I agree with his viewpoint, Vasa, that if we enforce this in the same way throughout every stage, riders will be coming away with more yellow cards than Homer Simpson on his birthday. You know, Abrahamson continuing to press on in the breakway. Once again, I feel like Azdrin, Abrahamson, and Gashina are going to have to go at the tempo of Lenny Martinez because four riders are more useful than three, even though they are three very competent riders on flat terrain. But they have held the gap to the Pelaton, at least down this descent. And once again, it’s a case of calm before the storm in the pelaton who are at the moment flying along the roads of France. 2 minutes the gap, just over 70 kilometers in the day remain. And we have had a crashfree race as of now with Danny Van Pppppel still at the rear of the group joined by Laurens Rex who is just returning after ine cater to his needs. Also there is Emilion Janeier who is recovering after a hefty hefty impact with the barriers at the end of yesterday’s stage involved in a crash that took out the likes of Paul Penway and Arno Dele among others. But another writer that was involved in that was Danny Van Pppel. So I wonder whether they’re having a conversation about the events of the previous days drama. But conversation about the intermediate sprint continues on and that is because we’ve had three withdrawals throughout this tour to France. None on this stage thankfully, but one yesterday and it was a very important one yesterday. Jonathan Milan now in the green jersey of course as that was seeded by Belgian sprinter Yasper Philipsson whose Albson Deon team are still monitoring the front of the palaton at the moment but Philipsson is out of this race after an incident at the intermediate sprint involving Lens Rex and Bon Kar namely Kar getting a yellow card for his conduct and Again, I feel like that’s harsh. But Crockar’s teammate Benjamin Tomat at the back with Tudar Pro Cycling, who have been very quiet so far, not getting into any breakaways. Michael Store is a man who we’ve seen persistently at the rear of the Pelaton with Mike Turnison also there for XDS, another rider who’s been around the rear of the Pelaton quite a lot. So, I wonder whether he’s growing into the race as the three weeks go on. So, let’s clear up what happened yesterday then. And we’ll start off with my ones to watch for yesterday because it wasn’t a great performance from me, the day before or stage one. And thankfully I have got my recovery today or yesterday I should say because we’ve got the top two bang on and I think that was fairly obvious. Dylan Corona missed all the drama but did not find himself in a position to go for the stage win at the sprint at the end. Eventually rolled over the line 13th. not too well positioned by his J2 Lula team which was why I picked him because I thought the likes of Lucjett and Elmo Rinders could have done a better job than they ended up doing but I am chuffed that Timier finishes first and Jonathan Milan finishes second. So who have I got for today then? Here are my predictions. It’s a hillier stage, so it’s all change in the ones to watch column. And I’ve gone Tedd Praachia. Now, I picked him at the start of the tour to France for this particular stage to win it. And I’m going to continue to back that pick. And that’s why I’ve got him front and center of the ones to watch. The man in the center is the rider that I pick for the stage win. And then the two riders next to them are ones that I’m keeping an eye on throughout the stage or ones that could throw up a surprise. Now, Machio Vanderpole is going to be very easy to point out in the Pelaton in his yellow jersey and it’s fairly obvious as to why I’ve picked him. Stage two is a very similar stage to this one and Machio Vanderpole dominated the field on that st particular stage in the sprint. Podacha tried to come around him of course but could not get to the line first and Vanderpole took the yellow jersey and the stage win. But I’m keeping an eye on Matias Moosa on this stage. Could throw up a surprise for Little Trek because in my eyes this stage is incredibly similar to last year in Italy on stage two where we saw that entertaining battle between Todda and Yonas Vindidor. first of their skirmishes at that tour. And the climb is very similar. It’s super narrow uh the final climb I should say. It’s super narrow and very difficult to move up. And who were the team that were in prime position at the start of the climb last year? It was Little Trek and it was Tom Stroins. And I think Tom Stroins has the capability to position Skell Moza very well again. at the end of this stage when it matters. But what did matter yesterday was the withdrawal of Yasp Philipsson. This is me just clearing up everything that went on in yesterday’s stage. So we’ve had three withdrawals at this tour to France. Stefan Bisiga and Filippo Ghana fell out of the race on stage one. Ghana and Bisa both fine but nursing small injuries. Yasper Philipsson, a little bit larger of an injury, broken collarbone and one to two broken ribs that he suffered at the end or in the middle should I say of yesterday’s stage in an incident at the intermediate sprint and an incident that is still being talked about by lots of people in the media kind of including me at this rate. But that is everybody that has withdrawn from the race. Which means the general classification now looks like this. Same as yesterday in terms of your top six, but now Yasper Philipsson has disappeared out of the top 10. So Blackmore moves up to seventh, Tobias into eighth, Ben Oconor into ninth, and Emanuel Bookman moving up plenty of places into the top 10 for Trophus. Little outsider pitch there and nice to see Bookman back at a high level after missing out on the tour last year and doing a public call out to his Red Bull Borah Hanser team that they should have picked him. He has been picked for Kofidis for this year’s tour to France after a fairly mundane start to the season, but he is delivering them a top 10 overall at the moment. But back to the race we go. And the gap is much lower than the 1 minute 46 that First Cycling is suggesting because on my stream it is a minute 30 between the Pelaton and the head of the race with 65.9 kilometers remaining and EF Education Easy Post still on the right hand side of the road. They’ve got six of their seven riders in the Pelaton there as Nils Plet wearing the UAE team XRG jersey that looks when zoomed in like he’s had a tumble on the bike because it’s white with sort of gray to black decals on it. I’m not a fan of the jersey. We did do a jersey tier list stage one um that I actually don’t have to hand so I might get that up and cause some debate but no debates in the breakaway. They’ve just got to get their heads down and press on. Especially Lenny Martinez who is sat second wheel behind Casper Asgrren at the moment. Not bad company to be in on flat terrain. And Tom Agashin is on the radio to his total energy team car now probably working out what the gap is. They will respond to him that it is just over a minute 20 and with 65 km remaining this breakaway is doomed to fail I think. But Martinez is going to earn me some breakaway points at the very least for the fantasy team. So that’s the only thing I can really take. You’d think he’d be in this for the King of the Mountains jersey to try and have a crack at that. However, all of the climbs at the end of today’s stage occur right at the end. So, he won’t have the chance to gather many points before the GC riders and the contenders for stage victory take over. Martinez now on the front then trying to get as arrow as he possibly can. He is not quite Ramco even a pole and his arrow bullet nature but he does hold less weight than Ramco which will serve him well when the road goes uphill but he’s still got around 20 kilometers of flat road before any uphill occurs of note. first climb being a category four [Music] and you know it’s the it’s the first of of four on the roots sorry five ignore me uh the first of five the jacatil will be the first climb of the day then the k debbuff the category three test followed by The kudon straw and the coat deme both category 4 and then the romp santile category three and it is a very difficult climb indeed 12% average for 800 m and a real test for the legs as Luke Plap gives a push to his former Inos teammate Carlos Rodriguez at the back of the Pelaton [Music] as they’re talking to Mike Woods who runs a blog apparently during each stage where he writes about what he thinks and what he saw. He does sound like he’s saying something interesting right now. Talking about how at the presentation at the start they were throwing a lot of blame on the riders for the events of yesterday. And you’ve just kind of got this rider versus organizer fraction friction should I say in the pelaton. and he’s just said that he wants to get rid of the relegation system because it causes more crashes than it prevents, which is a very interesting Hey, you But interesting tapes there from uh from Mike Woods who is going into the ins and outs of should we have less riders and what changes could be made to make the sport safer? Could we reduce speeds at certain points? And I think he is one of the more interesting riders to put across that viewpoint because he’s not necessarily been in the sport for a while and he’s got, you know, experience from running that he can perhaps move into cycling. He’s also an older, more experienced pro who’s seen a lot more in a life really in sport, as has the likes of Garan Thomas and riders such as those who I think have a little bit more weight when arguing about this issue. But pretty intriguing tapes from Mike Woods, the Canadian on Israel Premier Tech. [Music] But Alperson remain on the front of the race. 1 minute 23 to the head of the race and that is four riders. EF still continuing on the right hand side of the road, making sure their riders are positioned. But I wonder whether they think there’s going to be some crosswinds on this final exposed section before the climbs proper begin. They’ll be going for the likes of Ben Healey, Neilson Powas, and every other puncher guy that they’ve they’ve taken. Sweeney, Valdron, Bodar. You could basically pick the whole team for this. Even Marion Vandenberg on his day can get over a couple of difficult clims, but the Pelaton is pressing on in their pursuit of the breakaway. And the breakaway is pressing on at the front of the race. Jasper Asprin takes over. And would they be taking harder and longer turns, the rulers at the front, to make sure that Lenny Martinez stays in the group for as long as he possibly can. They must be able to back themselves to beat him when the road goes uphill as well after Martinez has spent so much energy to get into the breakaway and be a part of this move with three other trucks really in the breakaway. Abrahamson and Casper Asgrren especially Asgrren with a Pal Maharez littered full of results at the highest level and as a tour to France stage winner as well. Let’s not forget the only one in this breakaway to have won a stage of the tour to France. But his biggest victory, I’d say outside of the tour came at the Ronda Van Blandon in 2021. has been fairly quiet victory-wise since that point until this year when he exploded on stage 14 of the Jirealia with a solo finish from a breakaway group such as the one he was in right now ahead of the punchy sprinters on that particular stage. 1 minute 35 they have on this breakaway on the pelaton should I say and a pelaton that are constantly getting help from team cars for various mechanicals or if you want some nourishment. This rider in particular from group armor FDJ is Sir who will get either a wheel or a bike change from his group armor FDJ team car and Silandier is starting to pull faces. This is the first I’ve seen of any weakness from Dillier at the front of the palaton. And Ben Healey on a pre-stage interview did discuss that if he saw weakness from Alpasinda Kernik, that might be the time to try. Of course, they have a satellite rider up the road in Casper Asgrren who could certainly do a job for a teammate if they attacked very early. Sirbath is back on a new bike and will be making his way through the convoy onto the pelaton and he should do it fairly sharpish because we are approaching the coat Jacon Catil the first climb of the day and that is when things will get serious certainly on the descent beforehand as well. It will be important for the GC teams and the teams with riders that want the stage win to position themselves at the front of the pelon. And that battle for position will probably bring the pelon much closer to this group of four up front. [Music] Plenty of fans on the side of the road still despite this being midweek in France. And we have an acceleration at least for a feed uh feed or a bottle. I thought Alperson were going to throw a rider up the road there. would have been would have been interesting to see what the response would have been as Coffidus are moving two of their riders up on the right hand side to try and join up with a third at the front of the race as we’re about to have a team radio from the TUDA Pro Cycling team car. And they say that it is super important now to take position at the front in the first part of the pelaton and every single team will want to do that as well. So the washing machine effect will take place, the nervousness will rise and the battle for position will increase. [Music] You’ve got team radio debate at the moment on the British feed and whether you should or shouldn’t have a team radio. Jonathan Nvas though there with the feed bag will be chucking that one off to the side of the road once he’s finished it. Either that or going back to the team car. But Estana have a couple of riders towards the back as well. Most notably their leader Harold Tahard as well as David Balerini. And now Vayz chucks it to a child and accidentally bowls him over. by doing so. Either way, around about 6 kilometers until we start the first climb of the day. So, we might as well get some reaction from yesterday out of the way. Starting with Phil Bowhouse, who finished very well yesterday thanks to his persistently good positioning as a rider. finished third on yesterday’s stage. Here’s what he had to say. For two years now at the Tour to France before, I’ve been second or third, but I know I’m not the fastest, so I need to be a little bit lucky to win or that they miss the power. In the end, I was still believing, but Tim Merier and Jonathan Milan were too strong. And that was probably the most reasoned and rational view of their own sprint and the sprints of the rest of the pelaton from that day. Biamay was very much lost for words. However, he was saying, “I think we were riding in hell today. Thanks to God, I’m super happy I finished safe, but every time all I heard behind me was crashes. And when they happened, my heart rate would go to 300 every time. I’m super sorry for the guys that crashed, including Yasper Philipsson. It’s not nice to see someone crash. I don’t even know what happened at the intermediate sprint. I saw Yasper Philipsson and Brien Kar collide just in front of me. I feel super bad for Philipsson. He’s an incredible rider and to see him crash and abandon the tour to France made me feel very sorry for him. I wish him a good recovery. I had no idea what was going on today. No idea. I’m happy just to finish safely to be honest. And it was a little bit of a hunger games really at the front between the sprinters and the GC guys. A couple of GC guys getting caught up in crashes, most notably Remco Napole, but he seems fine ahead of today’s stage as we have a crash in the pelaton Fedorov. the Kazak national champion and Mateo Versier is also down. Seep Cous as well involved in the incident. I’m on a break right now so I’ve got no idea. But cous down in an incident with Verse and Fedorov is what radio tour are reporting. So bad for Vizma Lisabike in that regard. And somebody else who had a bad day yesterday was Yasper Phillips of course. Sand Dillier after the stage very briefly spoke to Eurosport when he said, “I quickly stopped when Yasper Philipsson was on the ground. his back was completely open and he went to the hospital. I don’t know his situation at the moment and the situation was a broken collarbone and two broken ribs and he was very much cut up at the end of the crash. So yeah, lots of damage for Yasper Philipsson. But somebody who did not have damage and was very much a happy man when he crossed the line at the end of the stage was stage winner Tim Merier who said it was a hard battle. It was difficult to be in position. I lost Bert Van Lurburgger before the last corner. The team did an incredible job in the last five kilometers and then the wheel surfing starts. In the last 2 kilometers I fought back from behind to my position. I was in the wind all the time. Only with 500 meters to go, I gained a bit of slipstream. And I know next to Jonathan Milan, it’s always difficult to beat him. I’m happy I can take my second win at the Tour to France. At first, I’m sure that I was I had won, but I didn’t put my hands in the air. I was waiting until it was all certain. A headwind sprint is really difficult. No team can put it in one line, and riders always come back, so you lose a lot of energy to be in position. But I know if I’m in position, I can make it. So, I was focusing on that in the end. I was coming over here to win a stage. Of course, taking the yellow jersey was a goal, but I’m happy that I have the stage win. I didn’t know which team was at the head of the pelaton, but I decided to move up cuz I was too far back. Then, once I was in the wheel of man, there was 500 m to go. Then another team took over. And then I started my sprints on the feeling that I had. I knew we weren’t going to see the finish line until the final 100 meters, but I quite like a finish like this one. You need to do it on the feeling you have. I was all the time in the lead, but once I celebrated, I thought Milan jumped just before me. Luckily, I still won the stage. And indeed, he did. his second stage win. His first stage win of course coming in 2021 where he actually beat his at the time teammate Yasper Philipsson. But yeah, that’s a rough crash in the pelaton for Matteo Verse and Fedorov. Fedorov just getting caught up on a bit of central reservation. Cous was a bit of a passenger and Yonas Vineyard just about missed that crash. So Vindodor can count his lucky stars. It was the one time he wasn’t positioned fantastically in this stage and it’s a bit of a reality check I think for Yonas Vindidor on Vizma Lisa Bike because they were not in good position and they have paid the price with an incident for Septus. All three of them look all right and are back on their bikes, but a scare for Vindodor to say the least as the breakaway has 1 minute and 37 now on the Pelaton with 49.7 kilometers of the day remaining. And it’s a breakaway of four riders, Asgrin, Yashina, Abrahamson, and Martinez that will begin the climb. in 3.6 kilometers time. They have it down as 3 and a half kilometers at 3.6% in the route. The Kot Jacqu on Patil gets underway and it’s the first chance for Lenny Martinez to open his account in the King of the Mountains competition as we’ve got another crash. Another Aana rider down case B and he took out one other rider. So riders getting involved in a couple of crashes in the last few kilometers. Perhaps we will see it on the feed fairly shortly. But Ball hits the deck, which is one of Aana’s sprinters. And yes, he takes out uh that is a quick step rider. And that is Elon Van Wer. So, Elon Van Welder ending up in a hedge and the cause of the crash was a slight narrowing in the road. Domino effect occurs. Riders go down in case B gets caught up on the wheel of a picnic pastel rider. Neither of them took each other out. There were two separate incidents there. But that’s what’s going to happen. You’ve got a battle for position for the Kjakon Catil. The pressure rises and with that some riders hit the deck and it’s the first we’re seeing of TUDA pro cycling at the front of the Pelaton. So they have responded to the call from the team car and that might be Ilan Van Wilder distanced with Pablo Castrio who I think was caught up in the crash but didn’t go down. But yeah, not too great for Remapole because that is a key puncher domestique. [Music] Group Armor FDA at the front and center of the pelaton with Ara BMBB tells Alperson Darnney going for the left hand side of the road for now with Chuda Pro cycling on the right. Alfalip sat third wheel in that train and do not count him out for the stage as we have attacks in the breakaway. Lenny Martinez kicking things off then the lightweight climber and he is looking to shed some of the bigger rulers in this group and he is doing that at the moment because Gashinar is distanced from Asgrren and Abrahamson and Lenny Martinez has a gap of his own. Abrahamson attacks away from Casper Asgrren now who looks like he’s pulling the pin on this breakaway escapade. He’s going to have the stamina. He’s the type of guy to hold a cons consistent wattage and get back to this now breakaway duo as Yonas Abrahamson catches Lenny Martinez. And let’s not forget Yonas Abrahamson spent a long time of last year’s tour in the King of the Mountains jersey. Hello Finn, how are you? We’re just starting to see some dramas happen in the Pelaton with a couple of crashes caused most notably by Aana riders. I assume you’ve been watching as well as uh as well as me. But one and a half kilometers to go until the top of our opening climb of the day. And the Braway can’t really look at each other because the gap is 1 minute 15 and descending to the Pelaton. And once again, Tim Wellins holds the jersey on three King of the Mountains points. So there needs to be some form of cooperation. And Lenny Martinez attacking. It was not a great idea, I don’t think, especially now that Casper Agrin has worked his way back to the front of the race. Tomagashina slightly distanced but is just getting back to the rear wheel of the EF rider now. But Lenny Martinez is not going to win this at a sprint. So you can see why he’s attacked early. Might have been a little bit too early because he did get a gap, but the gap did not become a chasm. And it’s going to be Abrahamson against Martinez, I’m guessing, for the King of the Mountains jersey, unless Casper Asgrren has something in his locker as Felix Gal is out of the rear of the Pelaton in the convoy. Um, I’m doing pretty well, Finn. Um, I’m getting back into the the swing of the watch I want. Um, at one point I will go live when I actually mean to go live and not forget something and then spend like 10 minutes putting everything together. But there we are. Either way, we’ve still got a fully together Penelon as 400 meters to go until the top of the climb. Yonas Abrahamson winding this one up for Reno X. Lenny Martinez sat second wheel with Gashar in third. Gashinar’s got a kick on him on his day and so does Casper Asgrren who lights up the sprint. Gashinar gets onto the wheel of the EF Dane with Lenny Martinez third wheel. Abrahamson electing to take this one up from the rear as Agrin continues on the front of the Pelaton and gets around sorry the front of the breakaway and gets there just before Lenny Martinez can make his way around. So, Casper Asgren showing his experience there, taking the first King of the Mountains point of the day. And the Pelaton are continuing to chase them down. 1 minute and 11. How many of these climbs can they make it through though? Yordi Mayus is situated at the rear of the palaton at the moment. Seemingly all riders are back including Chase B and Ilam van Wer. So Van W’s made it back which is useful for Remol. one of his better teammates on this kind of terrain and they will roll over the top of the K Jacon Catil of course no points for them. Casper Asgrim taking the single point over the top of the 3 and 12 km climb at 3.6% average. So that’s his kind of terrain. That was less of a Lenny Martinez climb than some of the others we’ve got ahead of us. But the next climb in particular is the Cook Debbuff 9.1 kilometers average, 1.3 kilometers in length as conversations were being had between Abrahamson and Martinez. Abrahamson forcing Martinez to pace and at the end Lenny Martinez did not have it to overtake Jasper Asgrren. has been of course with the pure Watts advantage. But I don’t think Gashinar is too happy with the conduct of Martinez and the rest of the breakaway because he was the first rider to be distanced from the little Frenchman’s acceleration. 1 minute 15 to the Palaton with 44 kilometers remaining. How long can this breakaway continue at the front of the race on no delay at the rear of the pelaton at the moment? But let’s get some more quotes out the way because it’s going to get very serious very shortly and the persistent uphill downhill will start soon. So let’s see what other riders have been saying at the end of yesterday’s stage starting with Jonathan Milan who finished second and was the bridesmaid of the stage in that situation. Just about couldn’t beat Tim Mer. It was down to the bike throw but lost by a tire’s width. Milan says, “I was the only guy to have a strong leadout train.” I think that’s a lie. I think Picnic Pastanel did a very good lead out with Tobias Lunderson and Pavo Bitner finishing it off in fifth. But I thought D Picnic Pastanel were the best lead out train. But whatever, Milan thinks it’s little. It’s always important to have guys like my teammates believing in what we’re doing and really fighting to bring you that. It was super important. I’m really sorry that I didn’t give them the result we were looking for. In the end, we were really close to it, but Tim Mia won. Shappo to him and I will keep trying to bring home the best results. The first days were chaotic, maybe also a bit stressful, but I’m enjoying it and all of the people on the roadside. I am really happy to be here despite the results I’ve had and the lack of a win. When the victory is so close, you’re also a bit disappointed with the second place, but this gives me some motivation. I know whether we’re in a good way, so we will keep fighting. I’m sure that we will have other opportunities. We will see. and we will see was a statement echoed by Philillip Rud the general manager of Alpacainder Kernik who of course had a very busy first three days winning with Yasper Phillips stage one winning with Matthew Vanderpole stage two taking the yellow jersey with both riders on those particular stages and then losing Yasper Philipsson on stage three in a crash. Rudolfph says Yasper Philipsson has a broken collarbone. He’s devastated. He’s in a lot of pain. I think we can talk about the cause of the incident. That’s clear for everybody that the two collided and then Yasper was the victim of that, but I don’t think we have to talk about right or wrong. I don’t think they did anything wrong. It was wrong that it happened, but I don’t think there’s anybody to blame. First of all, we have to consult the DS’s, riders, and everybody involved on what will come. It’s awkward for us with the Asperers still being in hospital and the emotional impact it’s had on the group to already discuss Matthew Vanderpole going for the green jersey as if things continue as normal. Everything continues though and we still have to continue to try and be as successful as possible. But we feel as a group it’s better to give it some time and get more information on Yasper’s status. Then we can make a plan for all the others here remaining in the tour on how we can continue with this one. and Majio Vanderpole for the green jersey was a discussion point for a few people entering this stage and I think he’ll go for it if he’s in a position where he could feasibly win it, but I don’t think he’s going to try to put himself in a position if you know what I mean. If he naturally just ends up there by, for example, winning this stage, then I think he’ll realize that he’s close and go for it. But I I think if he’s got less than a 50% chance of winning, I wonder if he’s going to really bother challenging the likes of Jonathan Milan and Bill Gay for the jersey. [Music] Either way, we’re about to get back to my feed in particular, which is great. But there’s 1 minute and 5 seconds between the Pelaton and the Breakaway entering the final 40 kilometers of the stage. Everybody in the Pelaton is together. We’ve got nobody dropped behind as of now. But we do have four riders up front that have been up front all day. Initially it was Lenny Martinez on the attack with Yonis Abrahamson. Then Tomagashina bridged the gap that was around 30 seconds. Then once the gap was well over one and a half minutes, Casper Asgrren set off from the front of the palaton led by Alpasinda Kernik who have done that job all day really. Sandillier the main man involved in pacing the pelaton towards the breakaway and keeping them at a sustainable gap. 1 minute and 5 seconds is certainly sustainable. But yeah, Asgrren comes over and makes it a group of four as we see the ripped bib shorts of Matteo Versier who sits just behind Luke Plap at the rear of the Pelaton at the moment. Luke Plap of course could probably relate. He had a very nasty crash at the Olympic Games last year in the time trial. And also there and still towards the back is David Balerini. A rider who got in trouble with the commissers for causing an incident on yesterday’s stage. Sandillier has done his job and sits right at the rear of the pelaton behind all of those riders. While at the front, Chuda, EF, Sudal, Quickstep, Group Armor, FDA, and Alpacasinda Kernik control the road. So, neither UAE teamates nor Vizmissa bike are at the front for now. Two teams who have been so often at the front of the breakaway continues to press on. They’ve kept the gap low to the breakaway throughout this stage, but I think the breakaway have been saving some energy by doing so. As we just go over the 3hour mark in the stage, and it’s been fairly quick, certainly a lot quicker than yesterday’s stage. Yesterday’s stage was around 40 kilometers an hour average. Today, just under 45 kilometers an hour. But the time gap has been fairly constant throughout. It’s never really dipped below a minute, but it might dip below a minute very soon because it is very touchy. Lots of central reservation narrowings. And this is the first we’re seeing of the divider in the center of the road that has been painted with pink markings. But that divider is pretty constant throughout the stage. It separates the left and right side of the road. And because of that, teams will have to pick a side and really stick to it unless they want to bunny hop over the divider. And that might cause some problems. We’ve already seen a rider Yavghenei Federov try to do it earlier on in the stage. Not necessarily with that particular divider, but it did not end well as he took out Sept Crus Mateo Verse. Trusen Versier back on the bikes back in the Pelaton as well. But we’ll fly through a couple more quotes before it gets very serious. And just to finish off the ones at the end of yesterday’s stage, we begin with the team that I think had the best lead out yesterday. Picnic Posanel and the rider that provided it. The main leadout man for Pavo Bitner was Tobias Lund Anderson who said, “The team did so well today. We were at the right side and really organized. This was as good as it can get in terms of lead outs. I had to go long with Paval Bitner in the wheel. Maybe I opened a bit too early, but the guys came from the back. We can be really happy with today. And it shows commitment from the team. We belong in these sprints. When it’s such an easy day, you know, the final is going to be like this. It’s the tour to France. Nobody wants to see a final where we go at 30 km an hour. We know crash is a part of it. I think Yasper Philipsson did not finish. It’s really a shame seeing the best riders in the world not being able to compete on this level. Verse with a 50% fall rate so far. That is true. Finley, he is not having a tour to France to remember as of now. But Tobias Lund Anderson will certainly remember yesterday’s stage and I agree with a lot of his statements there. Crashes are kind of a part of the sport and he is a young rider. So, we will see a viewpoint from a much more experienced rider in the Pelaton, Garin Thomas, who had some strong words for the youth of the Pelaton. He said, “I was just behind the boys, Sam Watson, Axel Lawrence, and Connor Swift, who was lining up to try and have a go in the sprint, and I was trying to stay out of trouble. Basically, it’s not nice sat there. You just see everyone going left and right, leaning on each other, and almost crashing. You’re just like, “Boys, calm down.” It was always going to happen with that headwind. There was a bit of a narrowing and luckily I was able to break in time. I stopped and I saw Connor Swift on the floor, so just checked that he was all right. There’s no breakaway. Nobody wants to pull into a headwind because that’s much harder. Everyone was just across the road and waiting to go in the final sprint. Especially in the last 40 km, you were just waiting for the lead outs to start and it’s just tense. Everyone wants to be at the front, but not on the front, if you get what I mean. So, the pace isn’t high. It was chilled all day. A few roundabouts in the final 8 kilometers started to split it up a bit. Everyone’s fresh. It’s the tour, isn’t it? So, everyone wants to go for a stage. It’s a bit mad. Today was the perfect storm. Maybe I’m just old and I see the danger more, but I want the guys to just chill. So you’ve got two contrasting viewpoints there from Tobias Lund Anderson and Gerine Thomas both at either ends of their career. Lund Anderson growing into the sport for Picnic Post Enel. Garin Thomas in his last ever tour to France in his last year as a professional rider. As we get closer and closer to the intermediate sprint, we are not far away, just under 5 kilometers now from the sprint point and the sprint will be contested at least at the front of the race by Casper Asgrren, Lenny Martinez, Tomashina and Yonis Abrahamson. But the sprint teams want to come to the front and on a descent towards the intermediate sprint points. This could get very nasty indeed. I hope it won’t and I hope that they’ve learned after the intermediate sprint incident of yesterday, but let’s see how it goes. I’m about to get a feedback which is very useful because I think we’re going to be seeing some drama from this point onwards into the final 35 kilometers of the stage then and our awesome foresome continue at the front as Gashina Abrahamson and Martinez and the Japers at a minute. We will soon hit two figure seconds and there we go. the first that the gap has gone underneath the minute mark. And as a reminder of the points as we enter this intermediate sprint, let me get the classifications up. That is the general classification. Here are the other classifications. Jonathan Milan leads the way on 81 points, followed by Binham Gmai on 77. Tim Merier then on 63 points with Matthew Vanderpole in fourth on 50. Turgis on 49 and Yonis Abrahamson’s teammate Sirin Vardens in sixth on 46 points. So the only riders that can take the jersey from Jonathan Milan at least provisionally going across the line are Meria and Binium Diamay. However, they’d have to catch the breakaway to do that as Julip has some trouble. Looks like a puncture and he’s on the radio with a teammate to accompany him. Honestly, like the stage yesterday where there was no breakaway, maybe the UCI needs to change competivity classification. Instead of change it to a number on the back, they need to change it into a jersey and increase the possible winnings if you win that classification. I feel like smaller teams will go in the break more often. Well, you see at the Jurro Italia, even though they invite smaller teams than the group of wild cards that we see here at the tour, they have a lot more competitions on the road. So, they have intermediate sprints points um that are totaled. So, only those at the intermediate, not at the finish line. And they have breakaway classifications, so you know who which rider was at the front for the longest amount of time. A bit like in the tour to France game where they calculate how many kilometers you’ve been up the road. They have that at Jod Italia and I think it promotes the likes of Coretch, the likes of PY visit Malta to go in the breakaway. But I think you’ve got the best possible teams at this tour to France and they take themselves very seriously especially now. In previous years, the likes of Total Direct Energy did not take themselves so seriously and so threw breakaway riders up the road just to get a little bit of publicity. BMB Hotel is another example. But yeah, I think change is necessary to enforce more breakaways. And yeah, I think now racers have to start incentivizing going up the road rather than teams just choosing to do that themselves because if you invite the best possible teams, they’re all going to compete with each other. So yeah, I agree with your your take Finley, but we’re into the final kilometer before this intermediate sprint. The Pelaton is ramping up the pace, but they are not going to be able to catch our leading quartet, who will fight it out for the 20 points over the sprint line. Yonis Abrahamson leaving a small gap to Lenny Martinez. So he’s about to launch it based on demeanor of other riders that do the same thing. Abrahamson looks like he’s going to get involved and he is goes on the left hand side. Tomaggashinar says I’m not bothering to go with that. You can take the points on your own. And I don’t think Abrahamson has realized that nobody else is going for the sprint. The other three have to now chase back to the Norwegian who perhaps is going to continue using the draft of Christian Prudom’s director’s car and Tomagashina once again is feeling the effects of that acceleration from Abrahamson. He’s distanced slightly as Jonathan Milan takes the intermediate sprint from the Pelaton followed by Binium Diam and Lotto are looking to press on in the same way that Yonas Abrahamson did. Perhaps they’ve got Yenobos up there and are going to take advantage. But Tim Mer getting involved in the intermediate sprint as we see the overhead view. Merier closes Turgi a little bit. as Jonathan Milan kicks on the right hand side of the road and just has the raw power to beat Binium GMI over the intermediate sprint point. And that is the first we’ve seen of a proper head-to-head between Milan and GMI. Both of those will have been going all out for it because they’ve got no chance at winning the stage. So I think that is our two protagonists for the green jersey as the race goes on. But Tom Agashina has been distanced from now what is a front three with Abrahamson Asgrren and Lenny Martinez proving that he can do it on flat roads when he feels like it as Julipe has a TUDA teammate accompany him to the rear of the Pelaton. He’s in the convoy at the moment and is stuck in the convoy. It was a bad time to have his puncture because well we were heading up to the intermediate sprint and of course with the intermediate sprint comes a pace increase. It’s Alberto Dynazi that’s trying to get him back to a feasible position. But they’ve got about 40 seconds to close to the Pelaton. Plus nowadays breakaways get way less chances than five to 10 years ago and less incentive to go into it. Yeah, I agree with that. The era of the breakaway winner is disappearing as you see riders like Podarcher, like Vanderpole, like Wild Vanard that can compete on all terrains. I think you Yeah, with more teams taking themselves seriously, you get more riders in the Pelaton, more places to protect yourself from the wind, and it just means you’re fresher than the breakaway. So, it’s now kind of these transition stages rather than the high mountain stages, which go to breakaways. And that’s what I kind of miss. I love a high mountain stage where you have a breakaway up the road and a GC battle as well. and you kind of have both the battle for the stage win and the battle for GC taking place at the same time. And those in my eyes are the best stages, but that’s personal opinion. And it looks like Tim Wellens is moving himself up in the polka dot jersey as our Vizma Lisa bike with 1 kilometer to go until the summit of our second climb of the day. Casper Asgrren’s gone pop, which means it’s just Martinez and Yonas Abrahamson in the breakaway. Now, once again, it’s the duo that kick things off on our first category four. This is a category three climb, however. So, two and one points to be given out over the top as Jonathan Milan has been distanced. Spinium GMI also out of the back with the Dutch national champions jersey as well of Danny Van Pppel. And you’ll see the bigger riders get distanced such as Pascal Akerman. All of these guys will be holding up Julian Afalipe who now has two teammates working with him as Lenny Martinez strikes out for glory. He has distanced Yiannis Abrahamson who will now be fighting for just the one king of the mountain point and it is the palaton who are coming up behind them. You can hear the draws music build as the Norwegian tries to hold them off as a Rubio is struggling who will be a key domestique for Enrich Mass in the mountains. Perhaps this is not his kind of terrain really, but you’re seeing more and more riders get distanced. Mate Mahoric as well out of the back. Tim Meria along with Sudar Quickstep teammate alongside him. Will Barter as well is out the back maybe looking at a breakaway in the coming stages. Ivan Romeo. So, lots of the Movie Star riders are in trouble. And once again, Enrich Mass might be isolated, but he’s done well having been isolated before as Lenny Martinez continues his escapade and is going for the two points to this time open his account in the King of the Mountains competition. Could not quite get around Casper Asgren to begin with. on the first climb of the day, but will be able to open his account in 200 meters time. He’s got 20 seconds on a pelaton group that have now reeled in the UNOPS rider in the breakaway. So he has now been reeled in as Yonis Abrahamson as his breakaway compatriate rolls over the line for two points and UAE team Emirates leading the Pelaton over Pavl Civikov doing that as Tim Wellins goes around Civikov to take one point moving to four and now proper leader of the King of the Mountains jersey not joint leader with Tad Pracha and Podacha will not want the King of the Mountains jersey because he’d have to do extra media that goes along with it as Julian Aalipe is still struggling to get back after his poorly timed mechanical. Elar Rinders and Dylan in a group that includes him and Arno Dele trying to make it over the top of the climb in a close enough distance. Maybe it’s just him testing the legs, but Da and Alfalipe have a large gap to close to the Pelaton. Well, over a minute that they’ve got to try and get back to the rear of the the main group. But Lenny Martinez is away and on his own. and he’s got a brief flat section before it goes downhill and then it will be up down up and down all the way to the line where we have a force flat sprint that will take place. UAE team Emirates on the radio are saying Tim take points at the top of the climb and that was why Wellins made his move on the right hand side pass and it was Todd making that order. So yeah, Podacha calling the shots for UAE team member XRG and does not want to be in that polka dot jersey by the looks of things. Tim Wellins when asked about it by Danish media had a rise smirk on his face as if he knew that Pagacha wanted to give it away because he didn’t want to talk to the media after the stage and get better recovery, but he didn’t say it. because that would have looked bad. But 25.7 kilometers remaining and it’s Lenny Martinez who looks destined to be caught before the next climb of the day which is the Cut Debonscross category 4 label 7.2 2 km for 900 m in total as Brian Victorious get on the radio to Lenny Martinez saying 20 seconds to the bunch do not look back as Lenny Martinez looks back at the pelaton [Music] but the droop of the green jersey is now off the back green jersey being Jonathan Milan and that is it for Julian Alfip’s hopes of being involved in stage contention. He is 2 minutes and 15 seconds now behind the pelaton and has given up on getting back in. So he with teammate Alberto Dynazi will just ride this one to the line along with all the sprinters as we go underneath the 25 kilometers to go banner and Uno X are taking this one up. for Tobias Harland Johannison, you’d think. And big crash in the Pelaton. Big crash. Multiple riders down. One of which is Sudar Quickstep. It’s not Remover the pole, but it would be a key teammate. I believe looks like Perry Pontra who is very disappointed with somebody. Harold is down for Aana. That’s Aana’s leader on the deck as well. But once again, it’s the battle for position and there’s a narrowing in the road. What caused this incident then? It’s a narrowing. It goes from two lanes to one and just an early shift inside and it catches out about half of the Pelaton. Trying to see if there are any GC competitors caught up in that incident. I don’t think there were any, but once again, the mayhem that gets caused by being first into corners causes this nervousness and with the nervousness comes crashes. 23.8 8 kilometers to go and that’s Matia Cato sat on the curb rear wheel puncher for Ben Healey which is a very bad time to have a puncture as well. He’s joining the Julian Alfalipe club of poorly timed punches. Healey of course a candidate for the stage win on his day performs really well in the classics and this is very similar to a classics parkour but he with a rear wheel puncture then third at least on leage fifth at Flesh Valonia top 10 in the Amster gold race fourth at Strata as well all of these hill classics that have very similar profiles as Lenny Martinez continued continues to press on at the front. Probably unaware that there’s been a mass crash in the pelaton. Either way, that’s given him an extra few seconds. Aer almost has a 50% fall rate this stage. Tough day for them. Tough day for them. Fedorov’s hit the deck. Balls hit the deck. Tahard has also been on the ground. Mike Dennison’s been at the back of the pelaton a lot as well. So, I wonder whether he’s suffering from some illness or little bit of a fever. But Martinez is about to be caught by the pelaton and more and more riders are forming a group at the back who will just roll in. That includes the likes of Julip, Mate Mooric, Ivan Romeo as well for Maui Star along with Will Barta and plenty of sprinters and teammates of those sprinters. Martinez on the descent then. 22 kilometers to go, but he’s about to be caught by the pack. Approaching our next climb. [Music] Three to go. And again, it’s very important to be in position because each climb will get less and less wide in terms of the road size. He off the back then. And there’s a bit of a barrage in the cars. So, he’s not going to get any drafting. He’s going to have to go it alone. Has he got the bike change yet? Or does he still have the puncher? I think he’s got a new wheel or a new bike and is underway again. But terrible time for a puncture for Ben Healey as Lenny Martinez takes the inside around this corner and with the switch back maneuver go Alpasinda Kernik. So compact Pelaton entering the final 20 kilometers. The breakaway has been reeled in. Vanderpole remains in the virtual yellow jersey. He has done for the whole stage as Lawrence Piffy is the latest to be spat out the back at the start of the Boot Deonakour 900 m 7.2% average and it is Tim Wellins leading the way. Another rider heading out of the back is Connor Swift from the Os Grenaders and Julian Alfalipe is making his way back in. Big ride from Alfalipe, but I think he spent his bigies getting back into the palaton as Alpasindi car battling with UAE team Emirates XRG to be at the front. Alperson win the battle for now, but will UAE win the war? They’ll be going for Tad Bacha and Yonas Vinodor sat on the wheel of the world champion as always with a couple of Fizma riders including Matteo Jorgensson around him. Breva M on the right hand side with Oscar on Lee. Removal also situated safely towards the front of the palaton. And this is Lenny Martinez alongside Santiago Boyago. So that is a GC competitor that is falling off the back along with Damianus of Kovidus which is bad for my V games team. But here come Uno X to the front again. Tobias Harland Johannison has organized his troops and the first rider to cross over that line. I can’t really work out who that is based on because the camera is a little bit too far away, but it wasn’t Wellins. I can tell you that Podra clearly didn’t get on the radio to tell Tim Wellins to uh take the climb. Either way, the Belgian looks behind him in the Queen of the Mountains jersey and presses on over the top. So, Brigo dropped for Barah victorious. He’s got Fred Wright to try and keep him on the back of this palaton. Elsewhere, Tom Schoin’s also not being able to hang on or towards the rear of the pelaton. That’s a surprise. although he was involved in a little trek team that commanded the front of the pelaton at the important parts of yesterday’s stage and UAE Emirates win the battle into a leftand 90 degree corner and are going to rip the pace up now. Pavlikov is doing that as Lenny Martinez is off the back now after his breakaway escapade. He will lose yet more time today to the yellow jersey. as Alfalip has also distanced. So he made it back onto the pelaton but it wasn’t for long as Pavl Civicov continues to press on at the front. Tim Wellins is on his wheel in the polka dot jersey. Terry Podracha right towards the forefront as well along with Vizmissa bike sat behind the UAT Merit train. Alfalipe is trying so hard to stay on. They’ve got to get to the wheel of Tom Stroins and Alfalipe does have a teammates to try and get him there in Marco. Another good classics guy getting on a bit but has had very good classics results in the past. Has Marco Hala. So it’s crunch time now and UAE are in command. One Inos rider getting himself involved as well as a total energy jersey in the UAE train. Visma Lisa bike will want to move up. Approaching the penultimate climb of the day and the penultimate climb of the day is the dema 5% average but a longer climb than the previous two. 1.8 kilometers in total for a category 4 label. So one point over the top of the climb as Tom Schwins continues to toil at the rear of the palaton in the Latvian National Champions jersey for Leidle Trek. So in trouble, but somebody who’s not in trouble at the moment is Tim Wellins. Wellan’s on the front for this descent. Cuts to one lane here for a left-hander because of mass amounts of road furniture. So, it’s going to line out the pelaton once more. And again, if you’re not in those first sort of 30 to 40 riders, it is race over for you. And it is why you get these battles going into specific corners. Felix Gal is another GC competitor who has been dropped with the likes of Harold Taharda. So Tahard is out the back. Niels Polllet, a useful teammate for Ted Podacha has also gone. So they are well over a minute now behind the Palaton and will not be coming back. A palaton that is ever thinning. But some of the sprinters still doing very well to remain hit. the likes of Brion Crocar. But just over 2 kilometers remain until they hit the Kag and the UAE team Emirates retain control of the palaton and they do not want to give it up. Pavl Sikov going into the red as Tim Wellins gets on the radio. Perhaps we’ll be getting that message through on the tour to France feed soon as after his radio message a teammate comes up and starts a conversation with him. So this has clearly caused a meeting between UAE Emirates riders perhaps. Well getting on the radio and saying I’m doing pretty well because he’s slotted now into third wheel rather than second wheel where he was and Carlos Rodriguez is trying to stay in contact with the pelaton for Inos Grenaders. So Inosios Grenaders as GC leader is again struggling on these hilly stages. And now we are into the final 15 kilometers. The contenders four stage victory will be readying the legs to go boom. And this is the first time we’re seeing UAE Emirates XRG for a while be overturned. And it’s Alpasinda Kernik that are trying to win the arm wrestle. Macho Vanderpole sat comfortably with Toda but his teammates both of those riders teammates are battling for position entering the codar. Not long to go until it begins now as Ben Healey is trying to get back into the pelaton after his unfortunate mechanical. Once again, probably going to be a similar story to Alfalip where he worked so hard to get there and then once he makes it back, he immediately gets spat out after another acceleration, 13.8 to go. So, actually my feed is like 800 m um ahead of first cycling, which is nice. It will mean I won’t get the results spoiled. But the court dema 1.8 kilometers 5% average. As we’ve been saying, it’s a more gradual rise and it goes on for slightly longer than the previous couple of clims as Alfalipe Fred Wright are among the riders being distanced. Philippe trying his best to hang on to the pelaton, but I think it’s just not going to happen for the Frenchman on this stage. It’s bad luck, but it’s the way cycling goes as Ben Healey trying to make his way back on elsewhere for Dathlon Azard. Bruno Amirai being distanced after his multiple breakaway escapades. Machio Vanderpole has one teammate alongside him and that teammate is Xandro Murasa but right now it’s UAE team XRG forcing the pace with Tim Wellins now as Ben O Connor now being distanced. We’re starting to see more and more GC contenders fall by the wayside. We’ve seen Felix Gal. We’ve seen Santiago Brago struggling. And now Beno Connor is being distanced off the pace of Tim Wellins. And it is a pace increase once again. Jonathan Narva sat on the wheel of Talipacha who is second wheel now. Yonas Vindidor sits on Narvay with Xandro Misa fourth wheel in that train and the yellow jersey of Machio Vanderpole in fifth. Vineyard’s Vizma teammates are slightly separated from him. Padracha is sticking with his team. Vineyard slightly distanced from his but right now the Dane doesn’t mind. He’s only looking at the rear wheel of Tali Parachcha and Wellins in the King of the Mountains jersey. He might want the point over the top of the Gromar as well if he’s allowed to take it. But this is good gradients for Tim Wellen’s 5% average as Okconor is watching his tour to France go up the road. He’s going to need a breakaway stage, I think, to put himself back in contention for the top five of this race. He’s got Eddie Dumbar with him. But over the top of the Grandmar, it’s Tim Wellins who takes another point, moves himself onto five points now as Lenny Martinez is confirmed to have won the competivity award for today. So, Wellins presses on polka dot jersey, polka dot shorts for Tim Wellins as well. And now Jonathan Nvasz heads in front of Ted Bacha. So, Narvz will be used as a teammate and will not be used to take away bonus seconds and competes in the sprint for the stage win. had such a positive jurro last year on Inos Grenaders. Jonathan Navayz racing Taliba and now he will be the Slovenian’s teammate. Will the Ecuadorian twotime Euro Italia stage winner, winner of the tour down under as well this year, [Music] but Tim Wellins is still pressing on and Jah Almeida is now here at the front of the race. We’ve not seen him at all really today. But at the important time he is there and at the important time Viz Malisa Bike are also there who have managed to wash over UAE team Emirates. Yonas Vinodar sat second wheel behind Victor Compen who has just raised the tempo drastically at the front of the Pelaton. Yonas Vineyard sat second wheel. Todd fourth fifth wheel actually behind Wan in the Red Bull helmet. So, is this a sign that they might be going for Venard again today? Or is this a bluff after all they’ve said in the media about in stage two that they were going for Walt Vanard, but then had to change the plan because he wasn’t feeling it. Is this another Visma Lisa bike opportunity for Wanard to go for a stage win? As Compen Arts gets into the praying mantis pose on the bike, switches his hand position as he goes over a speed bump, but heads back into the mantis pose. Hands over the brake levers and they’ve got Tish Bolt, Matteo Jordansson, and Wild Vanard there for Yonas Vineyard as well. Remco over to Pollex to go on the right hand side of the road. Pokes his nose out in the wind. We’ll have to try and get some protection shortly as Victor Compan leads the Pelaton underneath the 10 kilometer to go banner. Compan head bowed as he prepares for a leftand turn. Doesn’t overshoot it. And it looks like everybody in the pelaton stays upright. And now a right turn leading into a long lefthander. Componarts takes well. And once again the increase in pace will string out the pelaton. And that is positive for Vizmaite who are on the front and can control the tempo with 9.3 to go and one climb in particular. But it is a very very difficult test. Arguably the most difficult of the stage. the rompant layer 800 m 12% average two points going to the first rider over the top but I don’t think points will matter in the kingdom of the mountains jersey this is more about who is there for the stage win and at the moment visa biker in command Victor compon with the vineyard on his wheel followed by tenol matte jordensson and waltz van art and a gap is starting to form at the rear wheel of what vanard removal elects to close it for Sudal Quickstep but teller is not right there with the Vizmissa bike train preferring to sit off in the pelaton as Felix Gal is hanging on to the rear of the pelaton. He’s been in trouble for the vast majority of these climbs and it might be now the time where the pin gets pulled for the Austrian but Victor Kanas is sprinting to make sure that Vizma Lisa Biker well positioned for the ramp. It’s probably one of the closest things the tour has to a rampass in Humanas that we see at the VA Espña with absurd gradients. But this road as well is extremely narrow and visally bite clearly know this. It’s so important to be at the front as you enter the road of the rampullet. It’s similar in stature to the sort of Murdoy in terms of road size. Not much opportunity to move up and Victor Compan is stringing this race out. Visma Lisa bike all on his wheel, but the pelaton is in one straight line. This is not a hard and easy tempo by any means from Victor Compan. As Yonis Vineyard flicks his elbow out, he wants Tee Benel to get in front of him. Perhaps struggling to hold the wheel of Victor Compen or saving his energy for when it matters. Kevin Vortalan off the back. Seb Cruz off the back as well after his crash earlier in the stage. Maybe just a bit of road rash, but Dion Martan also distanced for group armor FD. So they are now putting all of their eggs in Roman Gregoire’s basket. Lipovitz off the back as well. Lipovitz of Red Bull Borah has been distanced and that is huge because that is a big GC player. off the rear of the Pelaton and some people’s favorite for a podium. Some people were tipping the German to get into the top three on GC. This is a day he’d want to forget being distanced off the pace of Victor Compan at the moment who is continuing to press on at the front of the pelonat second wheel. Yonas Vinodor third with Matteo Jorgensson and Walt Vanart fourth and fifth. But Terry Podachio moving up on the right hand side preparing himself for an acceleration. Jonathan Nvayz joins him and this is UAE team Emirates about to hit the rocket ship button. Champon is going to have to pull over and hand over to Tish Bot before they get beaten by Jonathan Narvay in the battle for the ramp. The road will go left, I believe, and then right. It’s a quick chicane and then the road will drastically narrow. Tish penalt leads the way. 800 m now. And it is so important to get into the midsection of the climb at the front of the race. And at the moment, UAE Emirates now have taken over from Vizmeaike. It is Jonathan Navayz looking to position Tagratcha for a killer blow. Pagato at the front. Machio Vanderpole on his wheel. Yonis Vineyard on the wheel of the yellow jersey with Matteo Jorgensson. Remco a Napole Almeida now there as well trying to move himself up. Never positioned too well throughout the stage. Almeida but comes to the front when it matters. Jonathan Nvayz’s day is done. He pulls over and it’s time for the Portuguese rider to set up Podra. This is mean percentages on the climb now. 392 meters to go. Here’s the left-hander and into the righthander and the road will narrow drastically. Very hard to move up from this point onwards. Almeida leads the way and it’s Tad Poga that launches the move. It’s not a vicious acceleration and it’s an acceleration that Yonas Vineyagar can hold at the moment, but nobody else can. It’s the two GC competitors away at the front and I hate to say it but somebody’s predicted this to happen. Machio Vanderpole cannot follow Matteo Jordansson sat in the second group as well but it is our two protagonists for the tour to France away at the front of the race. Taga the instigator. Yonas Vineyard is following for the moment. A look behind from Yonas Vineyagar and he’s tying up. Pagotch is going to go over the top of the climb on his own. And this is Vineyard perhaps struggling on 14% gradients. He’s putting in a surge. And this is Podacha maybe with a secondary attack. Podacha with the secondary move, but Yonis Vingor responds, gets into the saddle, kicks away, and gets to the wheel of Todd. It’s that seated acceleration that he’s been learning about recently. But Vinegar closes the gap down and two accelerations from Pagacha have been successfully responded to by the Dane Vineyard. Now does Pagarcha continue to press on because he’s got the chance at winning the stage and taking four bonus seconds on Vineyard? You’d think he’d be the better sprinter on a stage like this and he’s got 5 kilometers to go until the line. But does he want to work? Does Vingal want to work? Does he want to distance the likes of Rodlich and Remco Napole who is on the front of the second group? Rodlich nowhere to be seen in this second group that includes Auster Onley Juaw also there. Machio Vanderpole there too as is Matteo Jorgensson. But it is an elite group behind them as well. Do they want Vanderpole back? He will be a key cog in this sprint if he is in the front group and should be the favorite based on the actions of stage two. Baga asks for a turn from Vinegar. Vinegar says go on then and comes to the front in the Danish helmet. Both of them want to distance Vanderpole and Aanapole but Aanapole’s bringing them back on the flat terrain. Oscar Onley very much enjoying this service but he does let the wheel go. Remco is bringing Matteo Jorgensson to the front of this race. Machio Vanderpole rounds the leftander in the lead. Oscar on struggling and Matteo Jordansen launches a counterattack. Paga is going to try and follow in the saddle. Jordansson goes to the front and it’s a bad time really to attack. It was worth a try from Matteo Jordansson, but now everybody looks behind. UAE with two riders at the front of the race. Visma bike with two riders at the front of the race. Machu Vanderpole though in the yellow jersey is the key man to watch. Kevin Vala is 5 seconds behind in a small group as well. So do not count them out. But Rodlich is at the moment losing 20 seconds on this group. Primos Rodlich caught behind with 3.2 kilometers to go. Everybody’s looking back trying to work out who’s in this group. And who is in this group is Jah Almeida, Ti Podacha, Matteo Jordansson, Yonas Vindigor, Austa Onley, Remco, and Macho Vanderpole. Big ride from Oscar Onley. And down the descent they go. It will be a short flat section and a false flat rise to the line. But will it just be this group of seven riders that contest it? Or will more riders get in the fray? Roman Gregoire is trying to force this second group across that includes Kevin Vula and Matiaser. Is that I think it is. So, Skill Moza, Gregoire, and Vocalan trying to make it across to the lead of the race. So, still the three riders that I’ve got to watch are among the top 10 on the road. And it is Gregoire that is forcing this group away. Gregoire is dangerous in a sprint. Not necessarily as good as Vanderpole, but on his day and in this form is doing very well. Remco even a pole though comes to the front, tries an attack on the flat section perhaps to keep the gap to Primos Rodlich in contention for the podium. Not a brilliant corner from Remco, but Remco attempts a move. Says I am in this GC race as well. Almeida closes it down, gets on the radio to Taga, probably asked the Slovenian what he wants as we enter the final 1500 meters. Almeida leads the way. Remco sat second wheel. Vindigor third with Matteo Vanderpole on the wheel and Matteo Jordansson moving up right hand side. Is this an attack from the American or is this just an increase in pace? It looks like an attack because there’s a small gap now to Joah Almeida who is going to have to close that for UAE team Emirates. This is not playing into the hands of Matiasa and Kevin Vocala. Meanwhile, Roman Gregoire might have made just the right move at the right time because the pace has increased. Matteo Jorgensson off the front. Jaw made trying to chase him down. It’s teammate versus teammate on stage four of the tour to France. Jorgensson’s away at the front trying to take bonus seconds away from Todd. You would think 700 m left in the stage and the American is away, but it’s a false flat climb to the line and you’ve got to make sure you keep something in reserve. Jaw is doing just that at the moment and Jorgensson has been reeled in. Almeida trying to set this one up for Pagacha. Vanderpole sat second wheel in the yellow jersey. Grimacing, gritting his teeth approaching 4 hours in the stage. It’s going to be 3 hours 50 minutes. But Machio Vanderpole sat second wheel. Pagotcha third wheel. Vineyard fourth. Roman Gregoire at the back. Will he launch a flyer from the rear or will it be Vanderpole’s day from the front? Almeida sets this one up. Vanderpole launches. Pagera on the wheel. Poda sat second wheel. Will he go round? Vanderpole goes for the middle of the road. Vanderpole tying up on the right hand side. Is he? One more kick from Vanderpole, but Pagotcha gets there and it’s stage win for the Slovenian. And Pagotcha wins it. It was a gap. It was it was a tough one to call between Vineyard and Vanderpole on the line, but you saw Vanderpole tie up, get back into the saddle. And now count the seconds to the rest of the GC guys. This is group Primos Rodlich coming over the line. Walt Vanar is going to win the sprint from that group. But what is the time to Rodlich? 20 30 seconds it looks like to Primos Rodlich. Not a great day for one Slovenian, but a fantastic day for another. And another prediction in the bag for myself. More groups come over the line. This will be the group of Florian Lipovitz at 54 seconds. And that is Lipovitz, Gil Martan as well in that group at just under a minute. But Pagacha celebrating with teammate Schwah Almeida who did his job chased down Matteo Jordansson and it was a sterling performance from Todda in the sprint. gets to the wheel of Vanderpole, gets around the Dutchman, and makes it all the way to the finish as Vanderpole in the yellow jersey started tying up. I do want to see who ended up finishing second on the stage. Let’s check the results page. It was Vanderpole taking second place. So, Podacha wins the stage and will take six seconds on the owner’s Vindidor instead of four. If Vindador had have managed to get second place then he’d have closed that gap to Bodacha. However, Remco even losing a further 3 seconds to the front three put on a brief time gap by Pacha’s acceleration on managed to stick with Roman Gregoire who was given the same time started celebrating well before the line and Vineyard just about did not get there. It was a wheels length in it and Vanderpole does get that. So Vanderpole second, Yonas Vineyador third, Auster Only in fourth and continuing a very good tour to France for Picnic Postnel and him in particular, Roman Gregoire carrying French hopes in fifth with Juah Almeida sixth. Removal put on a brief gap in seventh with Matteo Jorgensson in eighth. Matia Skilmo was in ninth and Kevin Vcala 10th. We will be back next stream for some more to France watch along action. And here was today’s stage, but this is what tomorrow’s stage looks like. And it is an individual time trial and another chance to watch the GC contenders go at each other’s throats. Remco Napole might have a chip on his shoulder after losing 3 seconds in this stage today. Will he be able to get the time back already that he’s been put on in the general classification by Parcher and Yonas Vineyard because he lost time in the crosswinds, didn’t he, as well? So, he’s already almost a minute down. Will he be able to get all of that time back in his preferred discipline? Let’s see if he can limit the losses on the time trial. 33 kilometers from corn to be there tomorrow to watch it all unfold. Anyway, I’ve got to go because I’ve got a podcast to record straight after this stage and I’m going to be doing a victory lap because Teddy Pagacha is the stage winner. So, I will go and celebrate and uh I will leave you to have a great rest of your day. Another good stream in the books on stage 4 and I cannot wait for stage five because I love myself an individual time travel. Anyway, have a great rest of your day. Enjoy yourselves and I will see you tomorrow.