Stage 4

The road

At the start

Back to France, and Schleck goes home

The Tour crosses back to France and loses a former champion on the way: Andy Schleck does not start, brought down by a spectator on the road into London. Vincenzo Nibali still leads by two seconds over a bunch in which Froome, Contador and Valverde are all level. Today is 164 flat kilometres from Le Touquet to Lille with two small climbs — a sprinters' day, ridden in the shadow of tomorrow.

How it was won

1. 1160 km to go

   Froome hits the deck

   Inside the first four kilometres on French soil a slight deviation up ahead leaves the defending champion nowhere to go. Froome goes down with Mollema, and rides the rest of the day with his left wrist strapped and his jersey in ribbons.

2. 271 km to go

   The sprint at the top of Cassel

   Sagan muscles his way up for third at an intermediate sprint placed at the top of a climb, and Lotto and Cannondale use the moment to tear the peloton into two groups.

3. 3At the line

   Three for Kittel in Lille

   A late crash guts Greipel's lead-out and Sagan himself hits the ground, chasing back just in time to take Kittel's wheel. Kristoff opens a gap inside 200 metres; Kittel comes off Renshaw, refuses to panic, and scoops him up on the line.

The result