2018 Tour de France: Stage 4 Results

Stage 4 of the 2018 Tour de France was won in a sprint finish by Fernando Gaviria, who was looking for another opportunity after getting caught behind a crash in Stage 2. BMC Racing Team’s Greg Van Avermaet finished with the sprinters to hold onto the yellow jersey for another day.

The 195km stage from Le Baule – Sarzeau was a little bumpier than the opening stages of the race, but still a day for the sprinters. Nonetheless, escape artists were keen to show off their jerseys to the cameras and get a little glory, so most of the race was led by Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Jerome Cousin (Direct Enegie) and Anthony Perez & Dimitri Claeys (Cofidis), all of whom jumped as soon as the race cleared the 9.2km neutral zone. As the race feed came live, the quartet had more than a minute lead over the peloton, which they later built out to more than seven minutes.

It was not a day to let the break go. Van Keirsbulck was 4’54” down from the yellow jersey, so he was riding as the virtual yellow jersey for much of the stage.

BMC Racing Team put Patrick Bevington, Tejay Van Garderen and Michael Schar at the front of the peloton to protect the position of race leader Greg Van Avermaet.

With 100km of racing remaining, the leaders led by a little over 5 minutes, but the death knell for Van Keirsbulck’s virtual yellow came shortly after.

By 80km, the gap began dropping quickly, falling from 3 minutes to a little over 2 in just a few kilometers.

The chase does not seem particularly enthusiastic, but the peloton knows that the leaders will be caught with plenty of time to set up the sprint teams.

The gap dropped as low as 1’15” with 50km to go, but a crash in the peloton involving Dan Martin, Mikel Landa, Jakob Fuglasang and others slowed down the bunch and bumped the gap back up well above 2 minutes. A crash just meant that the peloton was ready to chase all that much harder, however once the victims of the crash were caught back up.

Ou Est Cavendish?

The usual cast of sprint favorites were looking to take the win again today. Fernando Gaviria in particular after being stuck behind the crash in Stage 2, but also Peter Sagan, Marcel Kittel, Arnaud Demare and others. Notably absent so far is Mark Cavendish. Much was made of the Manx sprinter looking to catch Eddy Merckx’s stage win record this year, but the Dimension Data rider has not really figured in any of the sprint stages yet.

Who’ll Break First?

With 10km to go, the leading quartet still had a minute lead over the peloton. Quick Step and Dimension Data were elemental in stepping up the chase.

Crash!

Another crash with 5km to go. Looks like some Ag2r, EF Education First, Movistar and Sunweb riders down. EF Education First’s Uran was being run back up to the peloton with 3 teammates.

The catch happened with less than 1.7km to go. The sprint came down to Greipek and Gaviria with Gaviria coming out on top for his second stage win of the 2018 Tour.

2018 Tour de France Stage 4 Brief Results:

1.  Fernando Gaviria (COL) Quick-Step Floors 4:25:01
2. Peter Sagan (SVK) BORA – hansgrohe s.t.
3. André Greipel (GER) Lotto – Soudal s.t.
4. Dylan Groenewegen (NED) Team LottoNL – Jumbo s.t.
5. Marcel Kittel (GER) Team Katusha – Alpecin s.t
6. Andrea Pasqualon (ITA) Wanty – Groupe Gobert s.t
7. Alexander Kristoff (NOR) UAE Team Emirates s.t.
8. John Degenkolb (GER) Trek – Segafredo s.t.
9. Dion Smith (NZL) Wanty – Groupe Gobert s.t
10. Timothy Dupont (BEL) Wanty – Groupe Gobert s.t

General Classification After Stage 4:

1. Greg Van Avermaet (BEL) BMC Racing Team 13:33:56
2. Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team s.t
3. Geraint Thomas (GBR) Team Sky at 3″
4. Philippe Gilbert (BEL) Quick-Step Floors at 5″
5. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Quick-Step Floors at 7″
6. Bob Jungels (LUX) Quick-Step Floors s.t.
7. Tom Dumoulin (NED) Team Sunweb at 11″
8. Søren Kragh (DEN) Team Sunweb s.t
9. Michael Matthews (AUS) Team Sunweb s.t
10. Rigoberto Urán (COL) Team EF Education First – Drapac p/b Cannondale at 35″