The 2024 Tour de France returns to France after its Italian escapade, and not by the easiest route: on the menu for this 4th stage, a first taste of the mountains, with the terrible Galibier.
Things are getting serious again in the 2024 Tour de France. After an initial skirmish on the percentages of the San Luca hill in Bologna, Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard will meet again, this time on the slopes of the Galibier, the first hors catégorie pass offered to the riders.
>>> The complete route of the Tour de France 2024, stage by stage
The route of the 4th stage of the Tour de France 2024
The riders leave Italy after two second category passes and return to France via Montgenèvre. After the descent to Briançon, they turn north to climb the Galibier and then descend to Valloire for a short (139 kilometres) but intense stage.
The profile of the 4th stage of the Tour de France 2024
With an intermediate sprint after just 19 kilometres, the sprint teams may want to lock down the start of the race to let the green jersey contenders have their say. It will then be time for the breakaways to try to take as much of a lead as possible on the slopes of Sestriere and then Montgenèvre.
The favourites could then be tempted to explain themselves in the climb of Galibier, 21 kilometres of ascent with bonus seconds at the top, at an altitude of over 2600m all the same. If he did not get it on the climb, Pogacar could test Vingegaard in the descent towards Valloire, the one in which Pidcock had done his number immortalised in season 1 of the Netflix series. Vingegaard is coming back from a serious injury after a fall on a descent and could play it safe.
The favorites of the 4th stage of the Tour de France 2024
In this stage promised to the favourites, there are four who are breaking away for the moment in the fight for the yellow jersey: Vingegaard and Pogacar of course, but also Evenepoel and the yellow jersey wearer Richard Carapaz, who will try to hang on to it as much as possible, at least until the time trial this Friday. Will the favourites’ teams leave enough of a lead to possible escapees who could fight for the win and the polka dot jersey? Nothing is less certain given the power of the Visma-Lease a Bike, UAE and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe teams.
How to follow the 4th stage of the Tour de France 2024
The fictitious start will be given at 1:05 p.m., the real one at 1:15 p.m. The expected arrival is announced between 5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. This 4th stage, like the 21 stages of this Grande Boucle is broadcast on TV on France 2 and France 3 but also on the Eurosport 1 channel as well as live commentary on the RMC Sport website and application. RMC will broadcast all the stages on the radio between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. and in full on its 100% digital radio Route.
