As the 2024 Tour de France moves into France from after three days in Italy, Tadej Pogacar dominates on the Col de Galibier to retake the yellow jersey.
It was definitely a day for the GC men to dominate. A group of 17 favorites rode together for the latter half of the stage, and by the base of the Galibier, it was 14 that would be attacking the climb: Yates, Ayuso, Almeida, Pogacar (UAE), Jorgenson, Vingegaard (Visma), Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Buitrago (Bahrain), Rodríguez, Bernal (Ineos), Landa, Evenepoel (Soudal), Roglic (Red Bull) , Gall (Decathlon).
When Pogacar attacked 800m from the top, only Vingegaard & Evenepoel attempted to chase, but Pogacar was too strong for both of them. Pogacar further cemented his lead with a daring descent into Valloire.
Richard Carapaz, who started the day in yellow, finished over 5 minutes back.
Pogacar: “Super Happy”
“I’m super happy. This was more or less the plan, and we executed it pretty well. It was like a dream stage, and finishing it off solo was very special. I wanted to hit hard today, as I was confident I could win and put some seconds on my rivals.
“I know this stage pretty well. I’ve trained a lot here and it felt like a home stage, passing through Sestrière and Montgenèvre. There was a lot of headwind in the Galibier climb, so the pace didn’t feel that hard when following wheels. Still, my team did a super good job. I didn’t want to attack too early because of the wind, so I saved my legs until that attack with 800 meters to go on which I pushed as hard as possible in order to make such big differences as possible.
“I knew the downhill, and that helped a lot, but it was a bit scary and surprising to see that the first few corners were wet.
“The gaps I created are good news for me. I can be happy with the position and the shape I am in right now. Yet there are three demanding weeks ahead of us, and as for this week in particular there is an ITT that can create some gaps.”
Evenepoel Stays on Podium
When Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) accelerated and opened a gap, only Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) had the power to go after the Slovenian, cresting the summit just a few seconds behind. The roads were wet in the first part of the descent, and that slowed the Belgian a bit, who was caught by the chasing group and briefly dropped.
On the outskirts of Valloire, where the Tour returned after five years, Remco bridged across and took over the front, driving a high tempo under the flamme rouge and then accelerating in sight of the finish line to take runner-up after outsprinting his opponents and score his first ever podium at the race. It was a confidence-boosting result for Evenepoel, who jumped to second overall and strengthened his grip on the white jersey. The Belgian is joined in the top ten by his teammate Mikel Landa, whose solid ride helped him make a huge jump in the rankings, up to seventh.
“I am satisfied with my day. It was the first mountain stage of the race, we went to high altitude and had a lot of meters of climbing. The team did a great job, we were up there and can be content with the way we rode. When the attacks came on the steepest part of the Galibier, I did my best to limit the losses, and on the descent, I tried to come back, but the roads were a bit sketchy and I lost some time there. Despite this, I continued to fight and I’m quite happy with my second place on the stage. It’s a good result for the morale and we’ll look to build on this”, said Evenepoel after what was one of his most impressive displays in the mountains.
Stage 4 Brief Results
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) +35”
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates)
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike)
General Classification After Stage 4
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) +45”
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +50”
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +1’10”
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +1’14”
- Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +1’16”
- Mikel Landa (Soudal-Quick Step) +1’32”
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +1’32”
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