Benson Bulletin: Tour de France stage 4
Pogačar in control, Evenepoel moves up, and key rivals see their hopes dented on the Galibier
Hello Subscribers,
Stage 4 of the Tour de France provided another breathtaking day of racing, with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) taking the win and the yellow jersey, as the rest of the GC contenders were forced to limit their losses on the Galibier, and the descent to the finish in Valloire.
The race for the yellow jersey is far from over but this was a major test, and we’ve got plenty of race analysis for you, so read on for your daily Tour de France bulletin.
Pogačar and UAE pulverise with precision
No wonder UAE Team Emirates aren’t keen on a budget cap in the WorldTour. Just look at what you can do when you’ve got the best team in the world, and it’s stacked with four Grand Tour leaders, and then the likes of Marc Soler and Pavel Sivakov giving turns for fun on the Galibier.
Make no mistake, this is one of the best GC teams we’ve ever seen at the Tour de France, and on stage 4 of the race UAE Team Emirates were unstoppable, showing no mercy on the final climb and setting Pogačar up for his 12th career stage win, and a second spell in yellow. It was faultless.
On the slopes of the Galibier, UAE decimated the field through a combination of tactics and power. Nils Politt and Tim Wellens softened up the opposition before Sivakov, Soler, Adam Yates, João Almeida and then Juan Ayuso turned the screw. At one point, we had a reduced group of eight riders and half that number were from UAE Team Emirates. Vingegaard and Roglič, by contrast, were on their own.
We’ve seen the mountain train tactics plenty of times before. It was initiated by US Postal in the late 1990s, and early 2000s, and then reimagined as a result of marginal gains by Team Sky just over a decade ago but UAE’s form on the Galibier was slightly more nuanced.
They took their turns, as you’d expect, but several of their ranks were able to return to the front after taking breaks in the wheels. The headwind perhaps necessitated that approach but it was still somewhat novel.
As for Pogačar, we’ve run out of plaudits at this point. He attacked a little later than some expected, with 880m to go, but again the headwind and perhaps even an element of caution over Vingegaard’s form leaned towards that approach. However, when he dropped the Dane with 500m to go before the summit, the overall complexion of the race shifted.
Pogačar is currently the strongest climber in the race but his best performance of the day came on the descent towards the finish, as he cut through corners, and pressed on the pedals all the way to the line. In all, he took 18 seconds in bonuses, and 35 seconds on the line. He is now 45 seconds clear of Remco Evenepoel, with Vingegaard a further five seconds down.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, it’s still only stage 4, and we’ve seen Pogačar crack horribly in the last two editions of the race, but this was an ominous sign for his rivals, nonetheless. There’s still the gravel stage, a TT on stage 7, and it’s a full week until we hit the next GC test in the Massif Central. There’s a lot of road between now and the next mountain showdown.
Banal poll of the day
Vingegaard hangs tough
It’s difficult to assess Vingegaard at this point. He was impeccable on stage 2, and on stage 4, when isolated from his team, he was the only rider able to initially follow Pogačar on the Galibier.
The fact that he lost six seconds at the summit - plus bonus seconds - will sting but it was the descent where the Dane conceded the highest percentage of his deficit.
However, three months ago Vingegaard was lying in a hospital bed with several fractures and a punctured lung, so the fact that he’s even at the Tour, let alone fighting for the win, is unbelievable. Yet the reality is that the Tour waits for no rider, and Pogačar will keep taking time at every point he can.
The gap on GC is now 50 seconds to the Slovenian but you have to keep in mind that back in 2022, ahead of the Col du Granon stage, Pogačar had 39 seconds of a lead over his main rival. By the end of that day, Vingegaard had a gap of 2:22 and the race was over. The circumstances are of course very different this time around but Pogačar has a Giro in his legs, and Vingegaard is still finding his feet. This race is far from over.
Best ever Remco Evenepoel
Heading into this year’s race I always felt that Evenepoel was the most fascinating of the ‘big four’.
We’ve seen what Pogačar, Roglič and Vingegaard can do in the Tour but with the Belgian, there was a sense of excitement; that he hadn’t yet reached his complete potential and that there was much more to come. However, my biggest reservation with him was around efficiency. I don’t mean in terms of aerodynamics or his pedal stroke but tactics and his inexperience.
For example, at the Vuelta last year, right after a very frustrating TTT in the dark, Evenepoel turned to the cameras and began arguing over the conditions. His point was valid but all the other GC riders faced the same or similar settings yet rode to the finish, got on the team bus and said nothing. They were saving their energy.
Obviously, that wasn’t the reason Evenepoel lost that race, but it gave the impression that distractions were easily found, and that complete maturity hadn’t yet been arrived. That’s fine, he’s still young, and no one would argue with his incredible achievements so far but he now looks like a complete leader, and with Mikel Landa in flying form, the podium and even the win aren’t out of the question. The TT in a few days will be massive, but for now, Evenepoel has passed every test.
Rodríguez shines as Ineos Grenadiers see their options cut
Heading into the Tour de France much was made of Ineos Grenadiers and their planned assault on the race. Tom Pidcock’s GC bid - which had been talked up all spring - was sidelined [along with their most experienced DS] - while Egan Bernal and Carlos Rodríguez were given co-leadership.
However, on stage 4 the team’s GC options were cut to one after Bernal lost contact on the Galibier with just over 4km remaining. There was no shame in that, he’s still not quite the rider he was in 2019, but Rodríguez hung on and even closed several gaps before taking 6th on the line.
A little bit of the shine will have been taken off that performance after losing two seconds in the sprint for second but this was still an accomplished ride by the young Spaniard. The biggest bonus for the team though is that every rider on that squad now knows that Rodríguez is the sole leader and that all their efforts should be poured into his podium ambitions.
He’s arguably got a better team than Vingegaard and Roglič right now but everyone at Ineos needs to be pulling in the same direction. Will that happen? I guess we’ll find out the answer to that in about 11 months on Netflix.
Roglič clinging to Tour de France dream
It wasn’t pretty and with 3.3km to go, when he swung out of the UAE pace-line and dropped to the back of the train it looked as though Primož Roglič’s Tour de France hopes were about to come crashing down. He looked cooked but the combination of a buffering headwind and an ever-so-slight easing of pace allowed the Slovenian to hold on by the skin of his teeth.
He is nothing if not resilient, and on the descent, he did enough to close gaps and make it back to the group of contenders that finished 35 seconds down. He’s now 1:14 adrift on GC, which isn’t ideal but this is only the first major GC test and the Tour is long. Roglič is clearly not in his best form, and the Dauphiné win papered over some of the cracks, but if you’re going to question the leader, you also have to point fingers at the rest of the team.
Vlasov lost three minutes, Hindley four, and Jungels almost 12. One more performance like that and the team will need to change focus and consider themselves in a battle for third and no higher.
Tour de France overall standings after stage 4
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal-QuickStep 0:45
3 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike 0:50
4 Juan Ayuso (Spa) UAE Team Emirates 1:10
5 Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe 1:14
6 Carlos Rodríguez (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers 1:16
7 Mikel Landa (Spa) Soudal-QuickStep 1:32
8 João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates
9 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek 3:20
10 Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 3:21
Rider audio of the day: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)
I’ll be back tomorrow with more from the Tour de France. I’ll aim to keep these consistent over the next three weeks and will post at least one original TDF story per day.
Thanks for reading and please share this with anyone who might want to receive this newsletter.
Good luck!
Daniel