Stage 4

The road

At the start

Carcassonne to Foix, at 37 degrees

Pogačar has the yellow jersey for the first time this Tour, level on time with Vingegaard and twenty-three seconds up on Evenepoel. Arnaud De Lie abandoned yesterday. Four Ariège climbs stand between Carcassonne and Foix, the Col de Montségur cresting inside the last forty kilometres — a finish that has rewarded opportunists five visits running, in heat forecast to touch 37 degrees.

How it was won

1. 1136 km to go

   A stacked break rolls clear

   Over the early Col de Bedos a powerful breakaway has the road to itself, and crucially it carries three Lidl-Trek riders; with the sprinters' aims met, Philipsen and Girmay sit up and the gap balloons toward the mountains of the Ariège.

2. 278 km to go

   Vacek and Tratnik jump

   On the 10.9km Col de Coudons, Jan Tratnik and Mathias Vacek spring clear of the break — and with Vacek less than nine minutes down on GC and the peloton seven back, UAE must decide whether to chase or hand the yellow jersey away.

3. 367 km to go

   Kirsch bridges across

   Alex Kirsch powers over to make it three out front and they stretch the lead to a minute, but with a swarm of motivated riders still hunting behind, the escape can never settle.

4. 436 km to go

   Montségur blows it apart

   The Col de Montségur detonates the day: EF Education-EasyPost light it up, the early leaders are swept back, and a ten-strong group crests with a colossal ten minutes on the peloton — guaranteeing a brand-new man in yellow.

5. 59 km to go

   Movistar throw everything

   Inside the final 9km García Pierna and Castrillo attack again and again, but Vacek, Simmons and Frigo patrol the front for Lidl-Trek and smother every move, dragging the day toward a sprint.

6. 6At the line

   Pedersen scorches Foix for a 1-2

   Vacek deftly delivers Pedersen, who scorches away untouchable for the win with Quinn Simmons closing for a Lidl-Trek 1-2 and García Pierna third — while eight minutes down the road Torstein Træen rides into yellow.

The result