'A masterpiece in teamwork' – Mads Pedersen sprints to victory on stage 4 of Tour de France after giant break goes clear
Torstein Træen takes over yellow jersey after super day for Nordic countries
In the end, it looked quite easy for Mads Pedersen as he sprinted clear to victory on stage four of the 2026 Tour de France in Foix. However, it was anything but easy, on a day where temperatures headed towards 40°C.
The Lidl-Trek rider was multiple bike lengths clear at the end on Tuesday, but it came after a brutal day of racing in the south of France, with the win coming from a gigantic breakaway.
Pedersen's team controlled the escape perfectly, with Quinn Simmons and Mathias Vacek putting their all in to deliver their Dane to victory. There was also delight for another Nordic rider in the break, as Torstein Træen (Uno-X Mobility) took enough time to step into the yellow jersey, as the peloton rolled in minutes behind.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is now in fourth overall, 7:53 behind Træen, just ahead of Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), another rider who spent the day in the break.
There were repeated attacks in the final two hours of racing, as those in the day's escape sought to shake things up and prevent Pedersen from being there at the finish, knowing the Dane's speed. However, Lidl-Trek were attentive to all moves, shutting down attempted attacks, particularly from the Movistar pair of Pablo Castrillo and Raul García Pierna, which led Pedersen to the perfect position to power to the win.
Notably, this was the Dane's first win of the season, coming months after he crashed and broke his collarbone and left wrist.
"I would say this was a masterpiece in teamwork," he said post-race on TV. "Maybe not climbing, I was suffering a lot on the last climb, but with Quinn and Vacek there it was a great day. They did incredible on the climbs to pace it well for me, and make sure we didn't lose too much time over the top. They were machines from there to the finish line. What a team effort and what a team win today.
"I had a good talk with Luca our team manager [the outgoing Luca Guercilena] before the race, and he said please win me a stage, please do it early in the race, and he said this would be a good one for me. I would say this stage is for Luca and all the good years we had together. I'm really thankful for everything he has done for me. And also to point out that he gave me a lot of pressure to win today."
"At one point you have to live with it and do what you can today," he added on the weather. "And honestly, to be in a breakaway with a car that's there all the time it makes it easier to cool down and again when we're talking about team efforts, it's not just about those on the bike. We have so many on the road with water and ice as well to cool down. We went through a few bottles today to cool down, but it helps to have a good team."
Asked about his green jersey chances, Pedersen said: "It would have been lovely to beat Girmay and Jasper in the intermediate sprint, but at least I'm picking up 50 points on the finish line here. It's a really good day for us."
After Monday's stage three saw the break's dream's ended by UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Pogačar, there was an enormous fight to get into the day's big move, which went almost from the gun.
34 riders made it in the end, which was pegged at around three minutes for a while, before their advantage ballooned out. There were only five teams who didn't make it in the selection: UAE, Visma-Lease a Bike, Decathlon CMA CGM, XDS Astana, and Tudor Pro Cycling.
The lucky 34 were: Nico Denz and Jan Tratnik (both Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe); Mads Pedersen, Mathias Vacek, Quinn Simmons (all Lidl-Trek), Sean Quinn, Michael Valgren and Georg Steinhauser (all EF Education-EasyPost); Robert Stannard and Vlad Van Mechelen (both Bahrain Victorious); Kévin Vauquelin (Netcompany-Ineos); Pascal Eenkhorn and Jasper Stuyven (both Soudal Quick-Step); Ramses Debruyne, Edward Planckaert and Jasper Philipsen (all Alpecin-Premier Tech); Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla); Torsten Træen (Uno-X Mobility); Biniam Girmay and Marco Frigo (both NSN Cycling); Pablo Castrillo, Raul García Pierna and Nelson Oliveira (all Movistar); Georg Zimmerman (Lotto-Intermarché); Ion Izagirre and Alex Kirsch (both Cofidis); Quentin Hermans and Brent Van Moer (both Q36.5 Pinarello); Romain Grégoire and Ewan Costiou (both Groupama-FDJ United); Alexandre Delettre (TotalEnergies); Frank van den Broek (Picnic PostNL); and Alex Molenaar and Joel Nicolau (both Caja Rural-Seguros RGA).
After the intermediate sprint, which was won by Girmay, he and Philipsen dropped back. It then took until 83km for the breakaway to properly split up, with Tratnik heading up the road with Vacek, and they were joined later by Kirsch. Their efforts lasted around 40km until they were finally collected by what remained of the break on the Col de Motségur.
Further on the climb, around 11 or 12 riders were left in the group at the front, as Simmons pushed on. Attacks kept coming, particularly from the Movistar duo of Castrillo and García Pierna. They were trying to break the bunch, in order to distance Pedersen.
Over the top, Debruyne, Træen, Frigo and the Movistar duo escaped, but they were closely followed by the Lidl-Trek trio, Quinn, and Vauquelin. The yellow jersey at this point looked like it would be heading the way of USA’s Quinn.
10 riders were together with 24km to go: Pedersen, Simmons, Vacek, Quinn, Vauquelin, Debruyne, Træen, Frigo, Castrillo and García Pierna. At this point, the peloton were over 10 minutes in arrears, while those dropped from the front were at around 48 seconds.
There were late nerves for Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) after a puncture, but the British rider was able to make it back into the peloton.
The attacks started coming again with 9km to go, as García Pierna made a dig, with Simmons in hot pursuit. However, nothing stuck, and Lidl-Trek were able to deliver Pedersen to victory.
Results
Tour de France 2026 stage four: Carcassonne > Foix (181.9km)
1. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek, in 4:10:45
2. Quinn Simmons (USA) Lidl-Trek
3. Raúl García Pierna (Esp) Movistar
4. Marco Frigo (Ita) NSN Cycling
5. Ramses Debruyne (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech
6. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Netcompany-Ineos
7. Sean Quinn (USA) EF Education-EasyPost
8. Torstein Træen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
9. Pablo Castrillo (Esp) Movistar
10. Mathias Vaceck (Cze) Lidl-Trek, all at same time
General classification after stage four
1. Torstein Træen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, in 13:02:46
2. Sean Quinn (USA) EF Education-EasyPost, +28s
3. Mathias Vaceck (Cze) Lidl-Trek, +3:50
4. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in +7:53
5. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, at same time
6. Ramses Debruyne (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech, +8:06
7. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +8:16
8. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +8:17
9. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +8:20
10. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +8:41
