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The Tour de France returns to French soil for Stage 4 from Le Touquet-Paris-Plage to Lille Métropole. Join The Roar for live coverage of Stage 4 from 10:30pm (AEST).
Beginning near the seaside, the 163.5 kilometre stage snakes inland and briefly crosses in to Belgium whilst skirting the border.
Despite being a relatively short stage there is something for everyone today with two Fourth Category climbs. Depending on the composition of the breakaway we could see a battle for the Polka Dot jersey of the King of the Mountains classification, with Cofidis’ Cyril Lemoine seeking to protect his lead.
While high placings at the Intermediate Sprint in Cassel and our finish in Lille Métropole could see Peter Sagan further extend his lead over everyone else in the battle for the Green Jersey of the Points Classification. With Marcel Kittel saving himself for stage victories Europcar’s Bryan Coquard is currently Sagan’s closest rival, if you define a massive 39 point lead as being close.
The exists a remote possibility of crosswinds after the peloton crest Mont Nior, with some 45 kilometres of the stage still remaining, but current weather reports are favouring the probability of a tailwind and a fast finish. Although with the weather forever a fickle beast the riders will need to remain alert to any danger.
Finishing outside the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, home to Ligue 1 football club Lille OSC, the sprinters will have to be mindful of a sweeping bend roughly 400 metres from the finishing line and a consant slight rise in elevation. Positioning will be key coming in to and out of the bend, so whoever has the strongest lead-out should be in pole position.
Going strong with two victories from two sprinter stages the outright favourite for today’s stage is understandably Marcel Kittel. Not only does the hulking German look like the strongest sprinter so far but his Giant-Shimano lead-out has also been firing on all cylinders.
The greatest threat to the dominance of Giant-Shimano and Kittel should be compatriot Andre Greipel and his Lotto Belisol team. While washed away during the finale to Stage 3, the Belgian team and their German sprinter will be out for blood. It is a rare sight to see the Lotto Belisol lead-out fail to achieve mechanical perfection, who should look to force Giant-Shimano in to spending more energy marshalling the breakaway.
Obviously Cannondale’s Peter Sagan will be lurking in the shadows should misfortune strike the other sprinters. However, my dark horse for the stage is none other than Team Europcar’s Bryan Coquard. The young promising French sprinter lacks the dedicated resources of Lotto Belisol and Giant-Simano in the sprint, but should the odds fall his way he has the talent to upstage his more renowned rivals.
Whatever the final result it is sure to be an energetic and dramatic finish, so join me from 10:30pm AEST for tonight’s live blog.
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