Stage 4

The road

At the start

A short, flat day to Fougères

Two more of the injured have gone home — Jack Haig, a genuine top-ten hope, and Robert Gesink — and Roglič, on the ground twice in three days, has slipped out of the top eight. Van der Poel keeps yellow by eight seconds. Today is the shortest road stage of the week, 150 kilometres without a categorised climb, to a finish in Fougères that Cavendish won in 2015.

How it was won

1. 135 km to go

   The lead-out rehearsal

   Mørkøv delivers Cavendish to the intermediate sprint at Vitré and the Manxman takes it from the bunch ahead of Bouhanni, Matthews, Greipel and Sagan — a dress rehearsal for what is coming.

2. 215 km to go

   Van Moer goes alone

   Frustrated by his companion's refusal to work, Brent Van Moer attacks out of the break with 15km left and takes 45 seconds. The peloton, with no team willing to own the chase, lets it drift back out to a minute.

3. 3At the line

   Caught at 200 metres

   Mørkøv launches Philipsen before Van Moer has even been swept up. The Belgian is finally caught inside the last 200 metres, a famous day lost by seconds.

4. 4At the line

   Cavendish, five years later

   In Fougères, on a finish he has won before, Mark Cavendish takes his 31st Tour de France stage — his first since 2016, after a career that had all but ended. A rider nobody expected to be at this race wins it in tears.

The result