Tadej Pogacar (Team Emirates UAE) won the first difficult mountain stage of the Tour de France 2024 as a soloist. The Slovenian was on that A day’s length of just 139.6 kilometers from Pinerolo over the Col du Galibier to Valloire was the fastest and he also led the overall classification. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Stage) followed in second place, 35 seconds behind. At the same time, Pogacar’s teammate Juan Ayuso came in third ahead of Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-hnasgrohe). Two seconds later, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) crossed the finish line. With this victory, Pogacar took the yellow jersey again. He now leads the overall standings by 45 seconds over Remco Evenepoel. Jonas Vingegaard is in third place, 50 seconds behind.
This is how the 4th stage of the Tour de France 202 went4
The Dane, one of the competitors for the green jersey, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) initiated the first real escape group of this stage. Also taking part are Frank van den Broek (Team dsm-unternehmenich PostNL), Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious), Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ), Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan) and Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility). However, Alpecin-Deceuninck did not want Pedersen to get maximum points in the first intermediate sprint without a fight. So they consistently led the way and Mathieu van der Poel closed the gap himself. The intermediate sprint still went to Pedersen, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) came third.
Separate group with world champion Mathieu van der Poel
A little later, a breakaway group of the day formed on the climb to Sestriere – with big names. World champion Mathieu van der Poel, David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) Warren Barguil (Team dsm-unternehmenich PostNL) and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan) were part of the 17-place break group with other riders: Christopher Juul-Jensen (Jayco AlUla), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Romain Grégoire, Valentin Madouas (all Groupama-FDJ), Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech), Oier Lazkano (Movistar), Raúl García Pierna and Cristián Rodíguez (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Kobe Goossens (Intermarché-Wanty), Odd Christian Eiking, Tobias Halland Johannessen (both Uno-X mobility) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies).
The breakaways walked up to Sestriere and the Col de Montgenèvre, two to three minutes ahead of the peloton. In the field, Tadej Pogcar’s Emirates UAE team mainly took on the track work and controlled the distance.
From the Col du Lautaret up to the Galibier, Team Emirates UAE was serious. A relentless race of extermination began – with significant casualties. Richard Carapaz in the yellow jersey had to retire, as did Enric Mas, Matteo Jorgenson, Felix Gall and Alexander Vlasov. Meanwhile, the other outsiders were also caught up.
Three kilometers below the summit of the Galibier then the following situation at the top: Tadej Pogacar, Joao Almeida and Juan Ayuso (all United Arab Emirates Team), Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Bike Lease), Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers ), Remco Evenepoel , Mikel Landa (both Soudal Quick-Step) and Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe).
Attack by Tadej Pogacar just below the Galibier
800 meters below the Galibier, Pogi attack. Only Vingegaard could follow. At the summit, Pogacar was leading by around seven seconds and took the eight second bonus. In third place, Remco Evenepoel got two bonus seconds at the summit. Behind them a group led by Carlos Rodriguez with Almeida, Ayuso, Landa and Roglic.
Tadej Pogacar made a relentless song on the passage and Jonas Vingegaard gradually lost time. He was caught by Roglic, Rodríguez, Ayuso and Evenepoel and the five of them towards the finish line in Valloire, which Pogacar crossed first.
Stage winner Tadej Pogacar in an interview
“That was very much the plan and we executed it perfectly. It was like a dream trip. It’s incredible that I was able to do it on my own. I am very happy,” said the Slovenian in the final interview.
“We wanted to strike today. I know this journey well. I have trained here for many weeks. The ride through Sestriere and over Montgenevre felt like a home race. It was very nice to race here.”
“There was also a bonus second at the summit and I was confident from the start. The legs were good too so I had to try it. At first there was a lot of headwind on the climb, so it wasn’t too difficult on the bike. The team did a really good job, but I didn’t want to leave too early because of the wind. I tried to make as much of a difference as possible in the last few hundred meters.”
After that I knew the descent but I was surprised to see that the road was a bit wet in the first three corners. That made him a little scared. But the descent is really fast, so it really helps to know the route.”
Results of the 4th stage Tour de France 2024
Daily ranking
1. Tadej Pogacar (Team Emirates UAE)
2. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Stage) + 0:35
3. Juan Ayuso (Team Emirates UAE) + 0:35
Yellow sweater | Full rating
1. Tadej Pogacar (Team UAE Emirates) + 0:45
2. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Stage) + 0:45
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Bike Lease) + 0:50
White sweater | Ranking of young talent
1. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Stage)
2. Juan Ayuso (Team Emirates UAE) + 0:25
3. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) + 0:31
Green sweater | Scoring
1. Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) 87 Points
2. Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) 83 Puncte
3. Kevin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) 79 Puncte
Polka dot jumper | Mountain classification
1. Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) 24 Points
2. Tadej Pogacar (Team Emirates UAE) 20 points
3. Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) 11 points