NOS Cycling•today, 17:31
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Yellow jersey Van Aert has his stage victory after an impressive solo
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Wout van Aert has put an end to his run of second places on the fourth day of the Tour de France. After having just missed the win three times – in the time trial and twice in the sprint – Van Aert won the stage to Calais in the yellow jersey after an impressive solo.
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On the last climb of the day, at more than ten kilometers, Jumbo-Visma turned the lackluster stage upside down. In an attempt to release the other sprinters, a large part of the Dutch formation accelerated.
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No one can follow Van Aert
First it was Nathan van Hooydonck, then Tiesj Benoot pulled the pack apart. Only Van Aert, Jonas Vingegaard and Ineos rider Adam Yates could follow, but the three did not stay together for long.
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Van Aert was unleashed and within a few kilometers he had a lead of more than twenty seconds. With the frustration undoubtedly in his body, the classification leader thundered on to win a Tour stage for the seventh time in his career.
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Reuters
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“I didn’t want to take any more risks”, Van Aert joked, referring to his two second places in the bunch sprints. “We wanted to go full throttle to the top of the climb and see what would happen. I hesitated for a moment whether I would wait for Vingegaard and Yates, but decided to go alone.”
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Philipsen thought he would win the sprint
A handful of seconds after Van Aert, Japser Philipsen won the sprint of the peloton. The Belgian raised his hands as if he thought he would take the win. “We were way back on the climb, I never saw him leading the way, nor heard it over the radio,” Philipsen explained his remarkable error of judgement.
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“I thought for four or five seconds that I had won. It will make for funny images, but you don’t want this.”
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Reuters
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With six climbs in the 171 kilometers through the northwest of France, a bunch sprint was not obvious, provided a large leading group was created that could challenge the sprinter teams. However, no more than two riders wanted in the leading group of the day; good news for Groenewegen, Jakobsen and co.
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Again the Dane Magnus Cort was present. The Education-First rider already attacked both stages through Denmark, even solo on Sunday. This time he was joined by the Frenchman Anthony Perez of Cofidis.
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Six for Cort, zero for the rest
It was Cort doing it again for the mountain points. The standings before the stage: six points for the Dane, zero for the rest of the peloton.
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AFP
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At the first of six côtes, Perez made another attempt to collect a point, but Cort sprinted him out. Perez didn’t bother after that, letting Cort run to eleven points.
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In the meantime, not too much happened in the peloton, until the QuickStep riders picked up the pace more than 130 kilometers from the finish. The peloton briefly broke into three pieces, but it did not lead to fan formation that could get the classification men in trouble. Mathieu van der Poel was reported in the third and final group, but the groups soon melted together again.
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NOS
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The margin of the two front runners rose again to seven minutes after the moment of excitement, but the teams of the top sprinters did their job, making the difference smaller and smaller.
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Sprinter teams on the hunt
In particular, Alpecin-Deceuninck (for Jasper Philipsen), Lotto-Soudal (for Caleb Ewan), Trek-Segafredo (for Mads Pedersen) did a lot of head work, and the Jumbo-Visma helpers of yellow jersey wearer Wout van Aert also showed themselves.
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At more than forty kilometers from the finish, Cort was caught by the chasing sprinter teams. Perez lasted longer, but still had to believe it on the last climb when Jumbo-Visma pulled out all the stops and the spectacle started.
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