Stage 4 Tour de France Summary
Stage 4 of the Tour de France was a grueling 174-kilometer stage from Amiens Métropole to Rouen. Stage 4 has five categorized climbs near the finish. The finish was uphill. The grueling stage 4 was highly entertaining and was very likely a preview of the later high mountain stages.
One of the interesting things in this stage 4 was that the team of Jonas Vingegaard and his Jumbo Visma teammates moved to the front near the start of the last climb. It was interesting on that last climb, favorite Tadej Pogačar and Vingegaard both attacked and broke from the leading pack. Do you think Pogačar is the best bike rider in the world?
Stage 4 Of the Tour de France Summary
Stage 4 was indeed a preview of the big mountains. Pogačar won the stage (the 18th Tour de France, and 100th overall). Yellow jersey wearer Matthieu van der Poel finished second on the stage, and Vingegaard was second. Vingegaard was third. Oscar Onley was fourth. Romain Gregoire finished the stage in fifth place. They all finished at the same time. A time bonus will separate them. There are time bonuses associated with winning stages.
There is amazing power associated with wearing the yellow jersey. We can see that with the second-place finish of van der Poel. With his strong finish, he retained his yellow jersey for one more day. His run will probably end tomorrow in the individual time trial. Pogačar was second overall. Vingegaard was third overall. It is worth noting that American Matteo Jorgeson was fourth overall after stage 4. It remains to be seen how he will do in the individual time trial.
Indeed, the individual time trial tomorrow will be important. Pogačar is an excellent time trailer, so he could take the yellow jersey tomorrow. That said, Remco Evenepoel is a good-time trailer, and van der Poel could ride fast as the current wearer of the yellow jersey.
We are also likely to see someone from down the standings do well. It is the case that there are some specialists in the time trial discipline. There is some choice that riders have in the jersey they wear in the time trial. Pogačar can either wear the polka dot jersey of the king of the mountains, or he could wear his world champion jersey.
Drafting: An Important Strategy
Viewers see riders drafting other riders and the chase cars, so what is drafting, and why is it important? Like in auto racing, drafting in bicycling is an important strategy. In sum, when a bicycle rider rides directly behind a car or another rider, they can conserve energy because they are not in the wind. Doing this conserves about 30% of their energy. It is for this reason that it is not legal.
Another aspect of drafting is that the rider who is drafting not only conserves energy but can aerodynamically slingshot past the rider they were drafting. You see this all the time. It is the rider in second place who has the advantage in the racing situation. They can often pass the rider in front of them.
Conclusion
The stage 4 race of this year’s Tour de France was grueling with four climbs and an uphill finish. Tomorrow’s stage 5 is an individual time trial that is 33 kilometers long, which is 20 miles long. The stage starts and ends in Caen. It is a loop. We can see some reshuffling in the standings at this stage tomorrow.
