Tour de France LIVE: Mark Cavendish wins Stage 4 - result and latest reaction
Stage four is another opportunity for the sprinters but will there be more caution after a chaotic start to the tour
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Your support makes all the difference.This year’s Tour de France has been crazy from the outset, with some of the most hectic stages any of us have ever seen.
To follow up wins for Julian Alaphilippe and Mathieu van der Poel, Tim Merlier stormed to victory on stage three with a wreckage in behind. He left Caleb Ewan and Peter Sagan on the concrete and in some pain, joining the likes of Geraint Thomas, Primoz Roglic and Arnaud Demare among the most high-profile names to be caught up in serious crashes on an unbelievable afternoon from Lorient to Pontivy.
Ewan was unable to finish the stage and abandoned following his horror crash inside the final 100 metres, which also brought down Sagan. Thomas was the first to go down and was forced to put his dislocated shoulder back in before getting back into the peloton. He ended up negotiating the stage well and finished with Pogacar’s group, less than 30 seconds down on stage winner Tim Merlier.
But the same could not be said for last year’s runner-up Roglic who came across the line nearly one minute behind Pogacar and Thomas. He was also clearly suffering with some bad injuries as he finished with a lot less of his jersey and shorts. On the face of it, stage four appears to be a routine one. But you could have said exactly the same about Monday’s route and that turned out to be one of the most dramatic day’s racing in recent memory. It is marked down as another one for the sprinters and is probably a slightly easier finale than Monday when any little rise in the road was causing havoc among those at the front of the main bunch. The peloton will be hoping for a more relaxed stage. But as we’ve seen already, truly anything can happen.
Follow live updates from the Tour with more drama likely in store from this gripping race:
Mark Cavendish wins stage four of the Tour de France
And that concludes another remarkable day at the Tour de France, as Mark Cavendish burst clear to secure his first Tour de France stage win since 2016 in Fougeres.
Cavendish collapsed in tears as he was congratulated by team-mates and rivals alike at the end of a dramatic stage in which breakaway rider Brent Van Moer was only denied victory within 200 metres of the line.
It was a 31st career Tour stage win for the Manxman, who also won here when the race last came to Fougeres in 2015, leaving him three behind the all-time record held by Eddy Merckx.
The win caps a fairy-tale return to the Tour for Cavendish, who feared his career was over in the winter before capitalising on the lifeline offered to him by Deceuninck-QuickStep.
We’ll be back tomorrow for stage five, which will see the first time trial of this year’s Tour. See you then!
PA
Mark Cavendish wins stage four of the Tour de France
This is a brilliant image, and shows just what this win means for Cavendish.
Mark Cavendish wins stage four of the Tour de France
Cavendish also claims the green jersey! There are a lot of riders who are very emotional at what they have seen today. There’s a lot of respect for Cavendish in the peloton, and many of them would not have believed to see him back as a Tour de France stage winner.
Mark Cavendish wins stage four of the Tour de France
I’ve been swept away a bit by Cavendish, but here’s how the top five looked at the end of stage four...
1. Mark Cavendish
2. Nacer Bouhanni
3. Jasper Philipsen
4. Michael Matthews
5. Peter Sagan
While the general classification looks like this... No changes, so Mathieu Van Der Poel retains the yellow jersey
1. Mathieu Van Der Poel - 16h 19’ 10”
2. J. Alaphilippe + 00’ 08”
3. R. Carapaz + 00’ 31”
4. W. Van Aert + 00’ 31”
5. W. Kelderman + 00’ 38
Mark Cavendish wins stage four of the Tour de France
Reaction from Mark Cavendish: “I don’t know what to say. Just being here is special enough, I never thought I’d get back to this race... [pause].
“Just fire, man. We didn’t know we were going to get them. You just see what this team is. You’ve got the world champion [Julian Alaphilippe] out in front [at the end]...
“So many people didn’t believe in me, but these guys do... They’ve got the best riders in the world.
“I thought I was never coming back to this race, honestly. But the stars aligned. After the last few years it’s just nice to have some luck.”
Mark Cavendish wins stage four of the Tour de France
That could be one of the sporting moments of the year - as Mark Cavendish returns to the top of the Tour de France podium, this is what it means.
Mark Cavendish’s Tour de France return reminds me why I fell in love with cycling
Cavendish, who has won 30 stages of the Tour, returns to the race for the first time since 2018 on Saturday
Mark Cavendish wins stage four of the Tour de France
It was Philipsen who led the charge but Cavendish burst clear at the end - a stunning finish, and what a moment. His first Tour win in five years. After everything he has gone through in recent years, being back on this stage as a Tour de France stage winner may have been beyond his wildest dreams. It is now a reality.
Mark Cavendish wins stage four of the Tour de France
Emotional scenes at the finish line as Cavendish is embraced by Alaphilippe before collapsing to the ground and bursting into tears.
Mark Cavendish wins stage four of the Tour de France!
Superb! What a win for Cavendish! It’s his 31st stage win of the Tour de France as he bursts past Nacer Bouhanni and Jasper Philipsen - unbelievable scenes!
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