LIVE – Tour de France 2024: the breakaway begins the first percentages of the Galibier, the UAE leads the dance at the head of the peloton

The 17 members of the breakaway begin the final climb of the Col du Galibier. It will be done in several stages.

The Col du Galibier is the last pass of this 4th stage of the Tour de France. A stage reminiscent of the 1952 Tour de France where Coppi buried Bartali on the slopes of the legendary Alpine climb.

Read alsoTour de France: the Galibier and two rivalries at the top

Released under the impetus of the UAE team, Richard Carapaz and Primoz Roglic returned to the peloton a few kilometers from the foot of the Col du Galibier.

The yellow jersey wearer is slightly distanced in the descent. The pace imposed by the UAE team is high. Primoz Roglic is also trapped.

The winner of the Flèche wallonne, for the second time today, took the lead in a difficulty. He pockets 5 additional points for the mountain classification. His total now stands at 10 points.

1. Williams, 5 pts
2. Barguil, 3 pts
3. Madouas, 2 pts
4. Johannessen, 1 pt

After a little over three days on the Italian roads, the Tour is in France.

Tadej Pogacar’s experienced teammate – a Tour win away – is setting the pace at the front of the peloton behind the 17-man frontrunner. The gap is stagnating at around three minutes.

1. Williams, 5 pts
2. Madouas, 3 pts
3. Barguil, 2 pts
4. Johannessen, 1 pt

The 17 leading men are on the descent leading them to the next difficulty of the day: the Col de Montgenèvre (8.3 km at 5.9%). The road surface is in perfect condition, limiting the risk of falling.

The Israel Premier-Tech rider won the three-man sprint ahead of Madouas and Barguil to claim the first mountain grand prix of the day. He takes 5 points.

The 17 leading men have a two-minute lead over the yellow jersey peloton, still led by the UAE team.

The 17 leading men are three kilometers from the summit of the first difficulty of the day classified in the second category. 5 points will be awarded to the rider passing in the lead.

The Breton from the dsm-Firmenich team is the best placed rider in the general classification at the front. He occupies 37th place overall, 2 minutes 31 behind Richard Carapaz. At this point in the race, he is virtually the new yellow jersey.

The young rider from the Groupama-FDJ team, who is taking part in his first Tour de France, has accumulated a delay of more than 5 minutes on the leader of the race. He is accompanied by Cavendish, Philipsen and Jakobsen in particular.

«“Because of my crash in the Basque Country, it’s logical that the pressure is on Tadej. My preparation has been far from ideal, so it seems normal to me that he is the big favourite,” said the leader of Visma Lease a Bike before the start.

For his return to competition, the Dane is at ease, occupying fourth overall, not having the slightest delay on Richard Carapaz.

Read alsoGeneral classification

Jull-Jensen (Jayco-AlUla), Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R), Gaudu, Grégoire, Madouas (Groupama-FDJ)Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Williams (Israel-Premier Tech), Lazkano (Movistar), Garcia, Cr.Rodriguez (Arkes-B&B), Goosens (Intermarché-Wanty), Barguil (dsm-Firmenich)Lutsenko (Astana), Eiking, Johannessen (Uno-X) et Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies)

They have a 50-second lead over the yellow jersey peloton.

A small group managed to take a few lengths ahead of the peloton led by Tadej Pogacar’s team. Valentin Madouas, David Gaudu and Warren Barguil are at the front.

Who else but Tadej Pogacar? At ease on the San Luca climb during the 2nd stage, the Slovenian will be able to take his revenge in the Galibier after his rout last year in the Alps at the top of the Granon against Vingegaard.

Read alsoTour de France: why Tadej Pogacar starts with a slight advantage over his rival Jonas Vingegaard

Despite numerous breakaway attempts, no one has managed to escape from the peloton. Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) has had a complicated start to the stage. He is currently in the last group, in front of the broom wagon.

Paul Lapeira is no longer in the peloton. He is in a small group with van Aert and Arnaud De Lie, one minute behind the leaders.

The days go by and are all the same for the Astana sprinter. He is already 1min20 behind the peloton. This is also the case for Garviria, Groenewegen and Abrahamsen.

1. Pedersen, 20 pts
2. Girmay, 17 pts
3. Coquard, 15 pts
4. Philipsen, 13 pts
5. Abrahamsen, 11 pts
6. Fedorov, 10 pts
7. Lutsenko, 9 pts
8. Vervaeke, 8 pts
9. Zimmermann, 7 pts
10. Lazkano, 6 pts
11. Onley, 5 points
12. Verona, 4 pts
13. Cr.Rodriguez, 3 pts
14. Cort, 2 pts
15. Pidcock, 1 pt

The 20-year-old rider, who is experiencing his first Tour de France, is already distanced at the back of the race after just 20 kilometres. He finds himself in a small group with Alexis Renard.

The Lidl-Trek rider, who wanted to escape, crossed the intermediate sprint line in the lead ahead of the previous day’s winner, Girmay. Jonas Abrahamsen keeps his green jersey by just 4 points.

The team of the unfortunate Jasper Philipsen is rolling to catch up with the six leading men and get back to Mads Pedersen before the intermediate sprint.

Pedersen (Lidl), Poels (Barhain), Geniets (FDJ), Van den Broek (DSM), Tejada (Astana) and Cort (Uno-X) are 7 kilometres away from the intermediate sprint. They have a 16-second lead over the peloton.

The white jersey of Soudal Quick-Step confided his objectives before the start of the day: ““First of all, I have to stay where I am without losing time on Tadej (Pogacar), Jonas (Vingegaard) and Carapaz, that’s the main goal. If it’s a sprint finish with a small group, I’ll try to play for the win, of course, but we’ll have to see what happens with the breakaway, because there’s a good chance they’ll go all the way tomorrow. We’ll try to survive and get the best possible result.”

Molly Darlington / REUTERS

The Lidl-Trek rider is launched – full throttle – at the front of the pack. He manages to take a lead of about ten seconds.

From kilometer zero, Campenaerts and van Aert tried to escape without managing to make a small gap.

Christian Prudhomme has just waved the yellow flag – synonymous with the real start – to free the 174 riders in the peloton. Let the stage begin.

Yellow jersey: Richard Carapaz (EF Education)

Jersey green : Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X)

Polka Dot Jersey: Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X)

White jersey: Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step)

It’s 3.9 kilometres before the actual start. Note the non-start of Casper Pedersen – Remco Evenepoel’s teammate – who fell heavily yesterday. He suffers from a broken collarbone.

«Right now, the physical pain is not great compared to the mental pain of having to give up,” said the Soudal Quick-Step rider.

The excitement has not died down after three stages where the peloton’s pulse was beating fast in Italy. The victories of Romain Bardet and Kévin Vauquelin have rekindled the flame of a French cycling team that rarely celebrates like this at the start of a Tour. However, the return to French soil will not be a parade. The road is very steep in the Alps, with a high mountain stage towards Valloire. Leaving Italy, the organization had no choice, as Christian Prudhomme, the director of the Tour, explains to us: « We climb very high very early, with Sestriere and the Galibier pass, which had never happened before on the fourth day. The meeting is important for the favorites. »

Read alsoTour de France: the Alps already for the favourites

By winning yesterday in Turin in a sprint, the Intermarché-Wanty rider became the first Eritrean to raise his arms on the Tour. At the finish, the 24-year-old rider could not hold back his tears and let his emotions speak.

«Thanks to my family, my wife, all Eritreans, all Africans, all those who helped me. Now we are part of this great race. This is also your success, this is your moment.”

Read alsoTour de France: Girmay wins sprint in Turin, Carapaz takes yellow jersey from Pogacar

The 31-year-old rider became the first Ecuadorian to wear the yellow jersey on Tuesday, ahead of Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel, who finished within the same second.

«It’s a dream for me because of all the respect I have for the Tour, to wear yellow in the best race in the world. I’ve always prepared so much for this and today, enjoying this moment is huge” he said after arriving in Turin.

Read alsoTour de France: “It’s a dream”, Richard Carapaz is over the moon

The first major clash between the general favourites will be played out in the Alps for an explosive stage with the climbs of Sestrières (2,035 m), followed by the Col de Montgenèvre (1,860 m) to finish on the Col du Galibier (2,642 m). At the top of the hors catégorie pass, the first to arrive will pocket 5,000 euros for the Henri Desgrange prize, founder of the Tour de France, before heading towards the finish line in Valloire after a 19 km descent. The stage will also be decisive for the sprinters who will have to arrive on time to continue the race.

Welcome to this live commentary dedicated to the fourth stage of the Tour de France.