The first showdown in the mountains of the Tour de France 2024 took place on the 140-kilometre stage 4 from Pinerolo to Valloire. On the Col du Galibier, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) broke away with Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) shortly before the mountain classification. A short time later, there was a small gap between the Slovenian and the Dane, which Pogacar was able to widen on the subsequent descent. Vingegaard was then caught by a quartet of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step), Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers). The five riders finished more than half a minute behind Tadej Pogacar. After Pogacar was already allowed to wear the yellow jersey on the second stage, he now takes the lead in the overall standings again.
Pogacar crowns his UAE team's strong groundwork
UAE Team Emirates flexed its muscles on the Col du Galibier. In the group of favourites, the team around captain Pogacar constantly set the pace and ensured that numerous riders got into trouble early on the climb. When UAE Team Emirates still had four riders in the field of favourites, riders like Simon Yates (Team Jayco-AlUla) or Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost) had to let go. In addition, the UAE team managed to isolate Vingegaard and shake off his noble helper Matteo Jorgenson, while it still had three riders in the leading group at this point with Ayuso, Almeida and Pogacar. Tadej Pogacar capitalised on his team's perfect preparatory work shortly before the mountain classification on the Col du Galibier when he opened up a gap to Jonas Vingegaard and then crossed the finish line as the superior winner.
It was a dream stage for me because it went exactly as I had imagined. As I train a lot here, it was like a home match today. That's why I had a lot of self-confidence today. Now it's time to keep it up. - Tadej Pogacar in the winner interview
Tour de France 2024: Results - the top 10 of stage 4
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 3:46:38
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:35
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +0:35
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:35
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:37
- Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:37
- Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:53
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +0:53
- Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +2:41
- Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) +2:41
Tour de France 2024: The current standings in the overall standings
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 19:06:38
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:45
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:50
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +1:10
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +1:14
- Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +1:16
- Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) +1:32
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +1:32
- Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +3:20
- Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) +3:21
How the 4th stage of the Tour de France 2024 went
Hectic start
Shortly after the start of the race in Pinerolo, six riders around Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) broke away. Pedersen was out to win the intermediate sprint classification after about 20 kilometres. Alpecin-Deceuninck had to invest a lot of energy to close the gap on the breakaway group in time. Although the peloton was complete again at the intermediate sprint, Pedersen still took the sprint classification ahead of the previous day's winner Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty).
As a result, the pace in the peloton was extremely high on the long climb to Sestriere. There were repeated attacks from riders who wanted to get into the leading group of the day. At the same time, UAE Team Emirates didn't want to let too many riders go, so it pushed up the pace in the peloton. Many riders had problems keeping up with the high pace. In addition to the sprinters such as Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) and Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) also dropped out of the peloton early on.
Powerful leading group forms
With 115 kilometres to go, four riders took the lead: Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan Team), Oier Lazkano (Movistar), Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) and Christopher Juul-Jensen (Team Jayco-AlUla) made their move before 13 more riders caught up with the quartet a little later: In addition to Valentin Madouas, the holder of the mountains jersey, David Gaudu (both Groupama-FDJ), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) were also among them.
Tour de France 2024 reaches France
After more than 30 kilometres, the race situation stabilised and the peloton let the 17 breakaway riders go. UAE Team Emirates, which did most of the leading work in the peloton, did not give the breakaway too much room for manoeuvre. The breakaway's maximum lead was three minutes. The two second category mountain classifications in Sestriere and on the Col de Montgenevre were won by Stephen Williams. Meanwhile, the peloton entered French territory for the first time in this Tour de France 2024.
Breakaway group flies apart on the Galibier
On the long Col du Galibier climb, more and more riders from the breakaway group ran into problems as time went on. Not only Lutsenko, but also van der Poel were quickly swallowed up by the peloton. Meanwhile, four riders around Gaudu and Lazkano broke away at the front. With 29 kilometres to go, the Spaniard then tried to solo, while the peloton roared closer and closer to the front. Three kilometres after Lazkano's solo attempt, the Movistar rider was dropped by the peloton.
Showdown at the Col du Galibier
UAE Team Emirates really stepped up the pace on the Col du Galibier. Not only the German Nils Politt, but also Pavel Sivakov and Adam Yates went flat out. Numerous classification riders had problems and left the group of favourites: First Simon Yates (Team Jayco-AlUla) dropped off, then the man in the yellow jersey Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost). Not far from the mountain classification, Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious), Felix Gall (Decathlons AG2R La Mondiale) and Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) also dropped out of the group.
Pogacar steps up
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) started about one kilometre before the mountain classification on the Col du Galibier. Only Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) was able to follow the Slovenian, but was unable to prevent a small gap a few hundred metres before the crest. Just behind Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) came over the pass in third place. With a lot of effort, Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) reached the mountain classification together with Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) and other riders around 30 seconds after Pogacar.
Final downhill
Tadej Pogacar extended his lead on the descent. Behind him, a five-man group consisting of Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, Primoz Roglic, Carlos Rodriguez and Juan Ayuso rolled together. However, they were unable to get close to the unstoppable Slovenian, who took the stage win and the yellow jersey.
