An email: “Where is Pierre Rolland of old, doomed breakaways with his over dramatic suffering grimace?” asks Patrick Costello. “His doomed breakaway yesterday was particularly doomed. End of an era?”
Pierre Rolland. Photograph: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
123km to go: It’s as you were and almost certainly will be for some time to come.
Four withdrawals so far: Lotto-Soudal riders John Degenkolb and Philippe Gilbert came a cropper on the attritional first stage along with Bahrain-McLaren’s Rafael Valls. Degenkolb finished outside the time limit after crashing and injuring both knees, while Gilbert also finished the stage put was forced to pull out of the race with a broken patella.
The peloton lost another rider to injury in stage three when Cofidis rider Anthony Perez crashed into his own team car on a descent and was thrown into a wall. The 29-year-old fractured two ribs, suffered a collapsed lung and extensive bruising, and also needed stitches in his knee and back.
“It happened too quickly,” he told L’Equipe. “I didn’t have time to be afraid. I especially felt a great pain after the fall, I could not breathe and I understood immediately that it was not right. But I still tried to get back on the bike.”
Anthony Perez abandoned after a bad crash on stage three. Photograph: Christophe Ena/AP
132km to go: It doesn’t even have to be a big one. Just three or four no-marks from one or two of the wildcard teams who are sent off on a kamikaze run to spend some time in the spotlight, have their ears assaulted by helicopters overhead and get some publicity for their teams.
134km to go: With what passed for a brief flurry of excitement concluded, nothing is happening again. Won’t somebody in that peloton please, please think of those of us typing rolling reports on this stage and launch a doomed breakaway?
135km to go: Sam Bennett takes the points at the intermediate sprint with a minimum of fuss. Peter Sagan is unable launch an attack and it looks like he might have a genuine rival for green this year.
137km to go: The sprinters’ teams gather at the front of the bunch in preparation for the intermediate sprint. They’ve just negotiated a small hill at 25km per hour.
140km to go: Exciting news! The peloton has just passed the sign telling them the intermediate sprint is just five kilometres away.
Caleb Ewan speaks: Asked about today’s finish, the Australian Lotto-Soudal rider told ITV he was praying for a headwind. He said he expects the conclusion of today’s stage to be chaotic, with everyone trying to be at the front of the bunch as they negotiate lots of roundabouts, small hills and narrow little streets.
Interestingly, the sprinters contesting today’s finish will not actually see the line until the final 100 metres. Ewan will hope to surf the wheels of other riders after getting a lead-out from his team-mate Jasper De Buyst.
143km to go: Nothing is happening.
144km to go: Nothing is happening.
the Inner Ring
(@inrng)Why hasn’t someone launched a forlorn attack that will be kept at 4 minutes and reeled in with 40km to go yet? #TDF2020
Today’s intermediate sprint: We’ll see some action at the 48-kilometre mark, at L’Epine.
Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar wears the white jersey for best young rider, while his compatriot Primoz Roglic won yesterday’s stage. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images
This could be a long and uneventful afternoon: Nobody is showing the slightest inclination to break away from the peloton, which is rolling along at a very gentle pace.
Racing is under way in stage five …
Well, up to point. After a fairly brutal start to this year’s Tour, certainly compared to other years, today’s stage should be a nice easy one for the riders. After about 15 kilometres, the peloton is still rolling along at a fairly sedate pace with no breakaway group having made a run for it yet.
Deceuninck-Quick Step’s Kasper Asgreen tried to bolt after four kilometres but was reeled in by Thomas De Gendt, who is peloton pacemaker. His team-mate Caleb Ewan will be hoping to win his second stage of this year’s Tour today.
Updated
Race director Christian Prudhomme on today’s stage: “The journey through Provence will take the riders on the lands of olive trees as they go past Nyons and then to the kingdom of ‘nougat’ in the city of Montélimar,” he said. “But once in the Rhone Valley, the cycling speciality really is the bunched sprint. At the end of an uphill false-flat road on several kilometres, the one in Privas will concern the finest of specialists.”
Total Direct Energie rider Lilian Calmejane (right) arrives at the start of today’s stage. Photograph: Stéphane Mahé/Reuters
Jersey wearers after Stage Four
- Yellow: Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck Quick-Step)
- Green: Peter Sagan (Bora Hansgrohe)
- Polka-dot: Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R La Mondiale)
- White: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)
French rider Julian Alaphilippe will set off for Privas wearing yellow for the third consecutive day. Photograph: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images
Stage Four recap
Julian Alaphilippe remains in yellow while Team Ineos leader Egan Bernal is struggling, but a month after the collision that ended his participation in the Critérium du Dauphiné, Jumbo-Visma rider and race favourite Primoz Roglic was first over the line at Orcières-Merlette in the Hautes-Alpes. Jeremy Whittle was there for the Guardian …
Slovenian rider Primoz Roglic pedals to victory in stage four. Photograph: Christophe Petit-Tesson/EPA
The top 10 on General Classification after Stage Four. Photograph: letour.fr
Stage five: Gap to Privas (183km)
From William Fotheringham’s stage-by-stage guide: “Largely downhill, this is another one earmarked for the sprinters,” he writes. “But the finish merits a closer look, climbing gradually in the final eight kilometres. Might favour a “punchy” finisher such as the Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet or Milan-San Remo winner Wout van Aert.”
