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:
Peter Sagan reacts to Tour de France’s chaotic start
“We were expecting a nervous and tense stage but this one became absolutely hectic after the intermediate sprint. I was feeling well, the guys, and especially Niels, did a fantastic job in keeping me safe and positioning me for the sprint.
“I was in a very good place in the final stretch to the finish line, ready to contest the stage, but, unfortunately, I crashed with Caleb Ewan. I managed to get up, ride my bike and cross the finish line but, of course, it wasn’t the way I wanted. I hope all riders involved in the day’s crashes are OK.”
Tadej Pogacar reacts to Tour de France’s chaotic start
“That wasn’t a nice day, some rivals lost time but you don’t want to see that,” said Pogacar.
“It was not a good day. We saw too many falls, and it was really chaotic. When I crossed the finish line, I didn’t know how long I had lost, or if I had kept the white jersey. I heard that some of my opponents had fallen and wasted time, but that’s not what we want to see. These first steps were really stressful and we hope it will calm down soon.”
Tour de France 2021: General classification standings after stage three
1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned/Alpecin-Fenix) 12hrs 58mins 53secs
2. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Deceuninck-Quick-Step) +8 secs
3. Richard Carapaz (Ecu/Ineos Grenadiers) +31secs
4. Wout van Aert (Bel/Jumbo Visma) Same time
5. Wilco Kelderman (Ned/Bora-Hansgrohe) +38secs
6. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE-Team Emirates) +39secs
7. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) +40secs
8. Nairo Quintana (Col/Arkea Samsic) Same time
9. Pierre Latour (Fra/TotalEnergies) +45secs
10. Sergio Higuita (Col/EF Education-Nippo) +52secs
Tour de France 2021: Pogacar placed well in GC standings
Tadej Pogacar was fortunate to escape the chaos and it places him nicely in terms of his GC chances.
Tour de France 2021: Primoz Roglic injury update
It was an awful day for one of the favourites, Primoz Roglic, who suffered an almighty fall.
He’s in good spirits and will give it a go today, despite speculation he may be forced out of this year’s race.
Tour de France 2021: Stage 3 Recap
Tim Merlier won a bloody and bruising stage three of the Tour de France in Pontivy as another day of crashes again brought chaos to the race.
Geraint Thomas was the first to fall – completing 140 kilometres after having a dislocated shoulder put back into place – but the race was upended in the final 10 kilometres as Primoz Roglic hit the deck painfully while defending champion Tadej Pogacar was held up by a crash which ended Jack Haig’s Tour.
A bunch sprint had been anticipated at the end of the 183km stage from Lorient, but Mark Cavendish was denied the chance to contest it, not crashing himself but losing four spokes in the carnage, while Caleb Ewan suffered a broken collarbone in a crash that also caught Peter Sagan in sight of the line.
Tim Merlier wins stage three of Tour de France after another chaotic race
Mathieu van der Poel retains the yellow jersey while Julian Alaphilippe remains second.
Tour de France 2021: Stage 4 Preview
The first three stages of this year’s Tour de France have been some of the most hectic any of us have ever seen. The wins for Julian Alaphilippe and Mathieu van der Poel were truly sensational on Saturday and Sunday. But, as is often the way with the Tour, we went from the sublime to the horrific on Monday.
Geraint Thomas, Primoz Roglic, Arnaud Demare, Caleb Ewan and Peter Sagan were 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.
Tour de France 2021: Stage 4 Prediction
With Ewan no longer a threat to Mark Cavendish, the Brit will become the wheel everyone wants to slot in behind inside the last 250 metres. True, he did not make it to the finish with the front guys on stage three after being caught up behind a crash, but you imagine that will make him all the more eager to be involved in the finale of this one.
Merlier will be hoping to clinch back-to-back stage victories and a third in a row for Alpecin-Fenix. But you have to favour Cavendish for this one, particularly when Demare was also caught up in a crash yesterday and the route is not particularly challenging. The Manx Missile should be fresh enough to give it his all for a 31st Tour stage victory.
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