'I hope everybody was at the limit' - Tadej Pogačar flies to 100th victory on Tour de France stage 4, Mathieu van der Poel keeps yellow
The Slovenian notched his century of wins on a steep finish in Rouen, out-sprinting Van der Poel and Jonas Vingegaard
Tadej Pogačar flew to his 100th professional victory on stage four of the Tour de France, out-sprinting Mathieu van der Poel and Jonas Vingegaard in Rouen.
As a result, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider finished on the same time as Van der Poel of Alpecin-Deceuninck, but the latter is still in the lead on count-back, meaning Van der Poel has finished ahead in more stages. Visma-Lease a Bike's Vingegaard followed in in third, and is third overall.
A select group of general classification riders lost little time to Pogačar on the steep finish, with Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) among those following in shortly after the Slovenian.
Others, though, weren't so fortunate, with Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Enric Mas (Movistar) and Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) all losing over half a minute.
Pogačar's first professional win came in 2019 at the Volta ao Algarve; six years on, he has notched up 100, the only current active male rider to have as many, although Marianne Vos has 257, and Lorena Wiebes 106.
The Slovenian had tried to escape on the final climb of the day, the Rampe Saint-Hilaire, but despite creating a gap and briefly distancing Vingegaard, the lead group came back together.
"I hope everybody was at the limit," Pogačar explained on TV post-race. "I tried an attack on the last climb, and then Jonas followed me, and everything came together. João did such an amazing job to lead me out to the very end as people were attacking. I ‘m super happy with the team today. Such a nice victory.
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"To win at the Tour is incredible, in this jersey even more, and 100 is amazing.
"With so many good riders in the final, such a final, you’re a bit on the edge with what’s going to happen," the UAE rider continued. "You never know. You get this adrenaline, and it’s pure racing, and I enjoy it.
"We will see tomorrow, tomorrow is the real test, but to win a stage already, for me, I just want to keep enjoying this race. Of course, yellow, but we will see."
How it happened
Stage four of the Tour de France, from Amiens to Rouen, saw the race leave Hauts-de-France for the first time, as the race moved to Normandy. With five categorised climbs inside the last 50km, it was a day for punchy riders, and one for general classification hopefuls to be alert for.
Almost as soon as the flag dropped, two riders attacked - Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility). The latter was not a surprise, after spending six stages up the road last week, but the former was, having been under the weather in the first few days. Shortly after, Thomas Gachignard (TotalEnergies) pushed off the front of the peloton and joined the leading pair. 10km further along the stage, Kasper Asgreen (EF Education-EasyPost) became the fourth rider to escape, and the breakaway of the day became a quartet.
For the next 80km, the action settled into a rhythm, with the four out front, and Alpecin-Deceuninck controlling the peloton behind for the yellow jersey, Mathieu van der Poel. The break’s gap rarely got much higher than two minutes, with the gap very much under control.
As the race got to 65km to go, the break’s gap started to tumble down, with the peloton cognisant that the first big test would come with around 50km to go, the Côte Jacques Anquetil, just 3.6km at 3.4%, but a prelude on sterner tight climbs to come on the run into Rouen.
A small crash in the middle of the bunch took down Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike), Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) and Yevgeniy Fedorov (XDS Astana), although all three remounted. A second small crash took out Cees Bol (XDS Astana) and Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step)
With 48km to go, on the Côte Jacques Anquetil, Martinez attacked his breakaway companions, with only Abrahamsen following immediately. Asgreen and Gachignard then got back on. Asgreen then launched the sprint for the single KOM point on offer, and won.
A puncture for Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) saw the former world champion held up, not helped by a slow bike change. At the intermediate sprint in Saint-Adrien, Abrahamsen won the full points, with Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) extending his lead in the green jersey competition winning the sprint from the peloton behind.
On the next climb, the Côte de Belbeuf – 1.3km at 9.3% – the majority of the breakaway was caught by the front of the peloton. At the back of the bunch, riders started to drop, including Milan and yesterday’s winner Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step). Martinez was the last survivor out front, and was the first over the line, taking two KOM points. Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was next over the top, and therefore the Belgian would continue his lead in the polka dot jersey.
A large crash with 24.6km to go saw Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) hit the deck alongside Mick van Dijke (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe); it appeared to be caused by a narrowing of the road, and split the bunch.
Martinez was finally caught with 21km to go, with Alaphilippe in the leading group shortly after on the Côte de Bonsecours. The first rider over the top here was Anders Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility).
UAE Team Emirates-XRG pushed the pace on the front as 15km-to-go ticked by, with Alpecin-Deceuninck and Groupama-FDJ also fighting for room at the front.
The twisting Côte de la Grand'Mare (1.8km at 4.8%) was next, with Alaphilippe distanced off the back. The group began to thin out, with GC contenders very much at the front. Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla) was among those dropped.
With 11km to go, Visma-Lease a Bike took control of the bunch, with Victor Campenaerts setting a high tempo for Jonas Vingegaard; Tadej Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates-XRG was just behind, as was Van der Poel in the yellow jersey. Pogačar briefly looked isolated, while Visma had strength in numbers.
The final climb of the day, the Rampe Saint-Hilaire (0.8km at 9.4%), saw the group of favourites shredded, with the pace set by Jhonatan Narvaéz and João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
Pogačar attacked with 5.4km to go, on the steepest ramps of the final climb, followed by Vingegaard, with no one else able to follow. Pogačar briefly distanced Vingegaard, but did not drop him; the former was the first over the top of the climb.
A chasing group was made up of Almeida, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) and Almeida. They caught the lead duo with 3.9km to go. Behind, another trio sought to get on - Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), and Kévin Vaquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels).
With just under 2km to go, Evenepoel launched an attack, chased by Almeida – the move was soon shut down. Jorgenson was next to try and escape, under the flamme rouge marking a kilometre to go.
The race came down to a sprint inside the final 500m, with Van der Poel on the front to begin with, but Pogačar came round at speed in the final 50 metres to take the win. Vingegaard came third.
Wednesday will see the first time trial of the race on stage five, a 33km time trial around Caen.
Results
Tour de France 2025 stage four: Amiens > Rouen (174.2km)
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 3:50:29
2. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Dececuninck
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike
4. Oscar Onley (GBr) Picnic PostNL
5. Romain Grégoire (Fra) Groupam-FDJ
6. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, all at same time
7. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +3s
8. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, both at same time
9. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +7s
10. Kévin Vaquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels, +10s
General classification after stage four
1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck, in 16:46:00
2. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirate-XRG, at same time
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +8s
4. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +19s
5. 4. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels, +26s
6. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, +48s
7. Oscar Onley (GBr) Picnic PostNL, +55s
8. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, at same time
9. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +58s
10. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +1:02
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Adam is Cycling Weekly’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling, he's happy. Before joining CW in 2021 he spent two years writing for Procycling. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds.
Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to riding bikes.
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