Fans might have been puzzled to see Mathieu van der Poel step onto the podium of the Tour de France in the yellow jersey after stage four, rather than the man who had just won, Tadej Pogačar.
It was all because of a little-used rule called count-back, meaning Alpecin-Deceuninck's Van der Poel will remain in the race lead for a third day, while Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates-XRG will have to wait a bit longer to get his hands back on the maillot jaune he has worn so many times before.
Over the four stages the pair have both won twice, finishing second on the stage the other has won, and gained identical time bonuses, meaning they both currently have completed the race so far in 16 hours and 46 minutes dead. Quite a feat for the pair who might just be the best too male riders in the world, the last two world champions.
As they are both on the same time, the race lead has to be decided by something different, as the Tour's rulebook explains.
"In the event of a tie in the general classification, the hundredths of a second recorded by the timekeepers during the individual time trial stages will be included in the total times in order to decide the overall winner," it reads.
Obviously, there is yet to be a time trial in this year's race – so there are no hundredths of a second to be used in this situation, so a second way to split them has to be found.
The rulebook continues: "In the absence of a time trial or if the riders remain tied, then the positions in which they finished each stage will be added up and, as a last resort, their finishing position on the final stage will be taken into account."
Is that clear? In the four stages so far, Van der Poel has finished 28th, first, 23rd, and second, which adds up to 54. Meanwhile, his Slovenian counterpart has finished 18th, second, 71st, and first, which adds up to 92. That's why Pogačar remains in second overall - if he had finished 39 places higher on stage three to Dunkirk, then he would be in yellow for Wednesday's stage five, rather than the Dutchman who is currently on top.
This will all change after stage five, however, because that is an individual time trial, so expect significant gaps, or at least hundredths of a second to come into play.
It's not the only competition that Pogačar and Van der Poel are tied in – the pair are currently both on 80 points in the green jersey classification, in third and fourth. The rulebook says tied riders "are separated by their number of stage wins and then by their number of wins in the intermediate sprints that count towards the points classification, and, finally, by their ranking in the general classification".
Meanwhile, Pogačar climbed back into the polka dot jersey on Tuesday evening for leading the mountains classification, where he is again tied with someone; this time, it's his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Tim Wellens.
The pair are both on five points. This time, the reason for Pogačar nudging ahead is a bit more complicated. The rule books says: "In the event of two riders being equal on points in the best climber classification, the rider with the most first places at the summit of super-category passes or climbs or summit finishes will be declared the winner. If the riders are still tied, first places taken on category 1 passes or climbs or summit finishes will be used to split them. It follows that first places taken at the summit of category 2 passes or climbs, category 3 passes or climbs or summit finishes, or category 4 passes or climbs can also be used to break a tie, with the general classification used a last resort."
Pogačar has won on more third category climbs – two – than Wellens, who has won one, so that's what has decided the split. He will wear the jersey at least until the end of Thursday's stage six, with no classified climbs ono stage five.
