Cycling: Phew, it was the expected heavy, hectic and tough stage today on the fourth day of the Tour de France. The most important thing at the beginning: The 223km from Searing to Cambrai passed without any falls worth mentioning. The finale was as enjoyable as it was surprising – 3,4km from the finish, Tony Martin plucked up courage and started a solo escape – and won the stage! John Degenkolb is second.
What a day for German cycling. Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) wins stage four of the Tour de France with a stunning solo escape. Martin, who has been so unlucky over the past two days, having missed the maillot jaune twice as close as possible, roared his frustration as he rolled over the line and realized what he had just accomplished. The day's favorite and Paris-Roubaix winner John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) wins the sprint in the chasing group. But one after the other.
Right from the start it was the expected competitive, tough and nervous atmosphere in the peloton. Of course, after the bad fall yesterday, the unrest among the drivers was palpable. Everyone seemed to be waiting for the dreaded pavés and again and again the eyes went up to the sky, which kept sending sporadic drops down. A rain shower would have been devastating for the upcoming stage.
With the start of the cobblestones, the battle for every position began, for every centimeter on the road. Chris Froome (Sky) in the yellow jersey almost landed on the asphalt when he first touched the handlebars of another driver in a tough battle for position and then almost landed in the ditch. Even on the cobblestones, a few drivers repeatedly drove off the track to prevent falls. But in the end, despite the sometimes quite aggressive mood, everything went well and there were no big falls. There were of course plenty of technical defects in view of the extremely demanding conditions, even for the material.
Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) was an example of how tense everyone's mood was. The Frenchman was struggling with his bike and wasn't at all happy with his team's technical support. After he had already verbally trimmed a helper on a pavé passage, he got off his bike a short time later and threw it onto the street in frustration. Although he was on a new bike a short time later, his nerves were on edge, and not only with him. The drivers kept gesturing to each other. Still, Pinot is one of the big losers of the day.
In the course of the cobblestone passages, a large lead group consisting of around 25 riders formed, with the rest of the field following around 2 minutes behind. Of course, the day's favorite John Degenkolb drove in this leading group, but the yellow jersey Chris Froome and Tony Martin also positioned themselves with the help of their teammates. The latter had a flat tire with 25 kilometers to go and fell back. Without further ado, he switched to the bike of his teammate Matteo Trentin, with whom he was ultimately to win the stage. With four kilometers to go everything pointed to a mass sprint, Tony Martin seized the opportunity and started a solo escape. "I told myself it was all or nothing. There was only one chance and I gave what I had." the 30-year-old commented on the situation after the end of the race. He quickly opened up a gap that his pursuers – above all John Degenkolb and Peter Sagan – were unable to close. In the end, Martin was separated by three seconds from the chasing group, where John Degenkolb just won ahead of Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo).
Video summary of stage 4
The big favorites gave nothing today. Chris Froome, Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo), Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Tejay van Garderen (BMC) all finished at the same time in the first group. Only for Thibaut Pinot should the dream of yellow be over after today's unfortunate stage. The jersey that everyone was so eagerly awaiting finally goes to Tony Martin with today's win, who now leads the overall standings by 12 seconds over Chris Froome.
Final result stage 4 Tour de France 2015
[easy table th=“0″]1.,Tony Martin,Etixx-QuickStep,05:28:58
2.,John Degenkolb,Giant Alpecin,00:00:03
3.,Peter Sagan,Tinkoff Saxo,
4.,Greg van Avermaet,BMC,
5th, Edvald Boasson Hagen, MTN-Qhubeka,
6.,Nacer Bouhanni,Cofidis,
7th, Jacopo Guarnieri, Katusha,
8.,Tony Gallopin,Lotto Soudal,
9.,Zdenek Stybar,Etixx QuickStep,
10th, Bryan Coquard, Europcar,
[/easy table]
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