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2018 Tour de France: Stage 4 Preview

  • Ron 

As the 2018 Tour de France moves to the Breton (Brittany) region, the 4th stage is another one for the sprinters before Wednesday’s Ardennes-like challenge with hilly, narrow roads.

The stage travels 195km from Le Baule – Sarzeau, and the concours is a little bumpier than the opening stages of the race. Breakaway artists may find some opportunities on the rolling roads, so the sprinter’s teams will be working to keep their man in position.

The race starts in Le Baule, riding along it’s famous 9km long beach before heading inland. The route heads due east until Novay, when it turns north before heading back west to the coast to finish in Sarzeau.

There is an intermediate sprint about halfway through the race outside of Derval, plus one Category 4 climb just outside of Redon.

A narrow roundabout at the 4km mark that could throw another wrench in the peloton, and being outside of the 3km limit, could see some time losses levied on the G.C. contenders. Past that roundabout is 4km of nearly ruler straight roads.

All the usual suspects will be gunning for the line, though some expect Fernando Gaviria to reassert himself after getting caught up in a crash during Sunday’s stage. Peter Sagan maybe be going for the win, but it’s unlikely that he could move himself back into the yellow jersey. Personally, I’m still waiting for Mark Cavendish to do something this year. He hasn’t really figured in the race so far this year.

Outside of those three, Dylan Groenwegen, Marcel Kittel, Arnaud Demare or Alexander Kristoff could all be in there at the line.

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