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Tony Martin took the yellow jersey as he soloed to a memorable victory and nothing could split the favourites, as the Tour made its way across the legendary cobbles of Northern France.
After battling back from a mechanical problem, on a bike his Etixx Quickstep teammate handed him, the German Time Trial specialists attacked 5km from the end of the stage and held off a rampaging bunch of sprinters to take the yellow jersey he narrowly missed out on for the first three stages.
It was a stage that looked like it was going to tare itself apart but never quite fulfilled that promise.
A breakaway of 4 riders got away early and pushed their gap out to 8 minutes at one point but was never going to last and was reeled in by the peloton effortlessly as the cobbles approached.
The bunch hit the seven cobbled sectors at pace and despite a number of attacks from Astana, BMC, LottoNL Jumbo and Etixx- Quickstep no one could put a significant split in the main bunch.
A steady stream of riders trickled off the back but no one could impact the race and break things up quite like they did last year.
Martin’s attack came after the final cobbled sector with 5km to go and as the sprinters in the lead bunch fought over who would chase, the German adopted his time trial position and took the victory and yellow jersey.
For the GC favourites, what a difference a year makes?
After having their hopes dashed against the cobbles of Northern France in 2014, Chris Froome and Alberto Contador came to the ‘Hell of the North’ ready to race and match Vincenzo Nibali.
Despite a number of accelerations from the Astana team leader, Nibali was unable to split the lead bunch as he did in 2014.
The fourth member of the ‘Big 4’, who wasn’t there last year, Nairo Quintana, also took a liking to the pave; despite his diminutive stature the Columbian managed to keep pace with the other three and the leading classic specialists.
BMC’s Tejay Van Garderen was equally impressive and is looking more and more at home alongside the major favourites, he sits third in the GC standings, and so far he hasn’t put a foot wrong all race.
The cobbles still managed to take their toll on some of the race GC contenders though, notably French hopeful Thiabault Pinot (FDJ) who was visibly frustrated after suffering a number of mechanicals.
Along with fellow outsiders Pierre Rolland (Europecar) and Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin), the frenchman lost over 3 minutes to the rest of the bunch and his hopes are now all but over.
The sprinters and King of the Mountains classifications saw no change with Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) holding to their jerseys.
Stage 4 Result
1, Tony Martin (Etixx Quickstep)
2. John Degenkolb (Giant) +0.03
3. Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) +0.03
4. Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) +0.03
5. Evald Boasson Hagen (MTN Qhubeka) +0.03
GC Leaderboard
1. Tony Martin (Etixx Quickstep)
2. Chris Froome (Sky) +0.12
3. Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) +0.25
4. Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal) +0.38
5. Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) +0.39
The cobbles pave glorified goat tracks. Tonight the Hell of the North comes to the 2015 Tour de France, so join us from 9:30pm for live race updates and commentary as Stage 4 sees the peloton race over the legendary cobbled roads of Northern France.
Stage 4 will see the Tour’s longest stage, 223.5km from Seraing to Cambrai including a category 4 climb, but the star tonight will be the 13km of cobbles, split across 7 separate sectors.
These old farmers roads were built in a different era for horse pulled carts, not a modern carbon racing bike and are haunted with the ghosts of the peloton’s greatest hardmen.
Every bone jarring pedal stroke rocks the bike as it bashes over these oversized lumps of granite; hit the wrong rock and your tyre will puncture instantly, come off and you will get no mercy from the unyielding round cobbles and God help you if it rains.
It is a stage that will fill the peloton with equal measures of nerves and excitement. This contrast is no better illustrated than by the tales of Vincenzo Nibali and Chris Froome from the 2014 Tour’s wet and wild trip to the pave.
It was on the cobbles last year that Vincenzo Nibali seized control of race, attacking the rough terrain with gusto, with the help of his team he broke up the race, gaining two minutes over his nearest general classification rivals.
While Nibali was relishing in the challenge the cobbles became the things of nightmares for the then defending champion and current race leader.
Froome let the cobbles get in his head and ended up completely psyching himself out, crashing twice and withdrawing from the entire race even before he reached the first sector of pave.
These nerves will being running through the whole peloton tonight and hit a high point on the approach to the first set of cobbles as teams with overall race ambitions jostle with potential stage winners to put their riders in the safest spots.
As bad as the cobbles are sometimes the lead up alone can be the most dangerous point of the race.
The key on the cobbles is positioning, the roads are so narrow that if you are caught behind a crash it is often impossible to get around and a puncture or mechanical issue can often mean lengthy time on the edge of the road waiting for a support car to help out.
Most of the General Classification riders will simply be happy to get through the stage unscathed and without any significant time losses.
Froome, Contador and Quintana will have their team rally around to protect them and shepherd them through unscathed.
However, as Nibali demonstrated last year if you can handle your bike well, are willing to gamble and have some luck go your way, you can create some serious time gaps on your competitors.
He will be looking for some payback from the time he dropped in Stage 2, so expect the Shark of Messina to attack and attempt a repeat of last year’s legendary ride.
The favourites for tonight’s stage though will be the bigger, heavier riders who can maintain momentum across the cobbles and not get bumped around as much as the smaller Grand Tour riders.
Chief amongst them will be this year’s Paris-Roubaix winner John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecine) who managed to out sprint an impressive field at the finish of 2015 cobbled classic.
He is free from any team duties and this stage will be one of his best chances to add his first Tour de France stage win to his palmares.
Of course no one can rule out three time Roubaix champion Fabian Cancellara, but after yesterday’s crash it is unlikely he will be able to lay down his trademark acceleration.
Among the one day ‘classics’ specialists, Zdenek Stybar (Etix-Quickstep) and Sep Vanmarcke (LottoNL Jumbo) will have high hopes and full team support.
Depending on their team orders to potentially protect General Classification prospects, Alexander Kristoff (Katusha), Geraint Thomas (Sky), Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo), Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) or last year’s cobbles stage winner Lars Boom (Astana) could be let off the leash to attack and go for the win.
In a foreboding sign last year’s winner, Boom, has said his role will be to attack on the cobbles and help Nibali split apart the rest of the GC contenders as he did last year.
The cheeky bet though would be on four time world time trial champion Tony Martin who has missed out on the yellow jersey by just 1 second for two consecutive stages. If he hits beast mode, he could take the peloton for a very fast ride indeed.
Prediction
This one won’t end in a solo breakaway victory like last year’s cobbles, there are two less sectors and they aren’t taking in the truly brutal stretches of Paris-Roubaix.
I predict a very select group of riders will come back together in the 5 kilometres after the final cobbled sector for a sprint finish.
From there it will come down to whoever has enough left in their legs to accelerate to the victory, which favours the likes of Sagan, Kristoff or my tip Degenkolb.
For GC I think Nibali will be watched a lot more closely than last year and will find it a lot harder to get any kind of gap on the other favourites.
But over to you Roarers, what do you think will happen when the race hits the pave? Let us know in the comments and stay with us as we bring you live coverage of the entire stage.
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