Stage 4

The road

At the start

Sagan fourth, a day for the sprinters

Peter Sagan won the uphill sprint at Longwy and sits fourth overall at thirteen seconds; Geraint Thomas still leads, from Froome and Michael Matthews at twelve. Today is 202 flat kilometres to Vittel, one of only four clean chances the sprinters get before the rest day — and with La Planche des Belles Filles waiting tomorrow, nobody is going to let this one up the road.

How it was won

1. 182 km to go

   Van Keirsbulck alone

   Guillaume van Keirsbulck lights up an otherwise quiet stage with a long, courageous solo breakaway across the plains toward Vittel.

2. 21 km to go

   Carnage at 1km to go

   A high-speed crash inside the final kilometre brings down race leader Geraint Thomas and several others as the sprint winds up.

3. 3At the line

   Démare wins, Sagan sent home

   Arnaud Démare takes his first Tour stage in Vittel — but the day belongs to the barriers: Cavendish crashes hard as Sagan closes the door, and the world champion is later disqualified from the race.

The result