Stage four of the 2013 Tour de l’Eurométropole saw the peloton cycle 153.8 kilometres through the Wallonie region of Belgium, from the city of Mons to the city of Tournai.
Ending with a seven-lap circuit around the cityscape and countryside of Tournai, the stage victory was claimed in a bunch sprint by John Degenkolb of Argos-Shimano.
The breakaway of the day would eventually establish itself after the 17km mark, but not before an earlier breakaway was neutralised by the peloton.
Consisting of five riders, the breakaway built up an eventual maximum time advantage of 5’30”.
In the breakaway was Maxime Daniel of Sojasun, Tristan Valentin of Cofidis, Boris Dron of Wallonie – Bruxelles, Antoine Warnier of Color Code – Biowanze, and Niko Eeckhout of An Post – Chainreaction.
With less than 70km of the stage remaining, Mitch Docker of Orica-GreenEDGE and Gael Malacarne of Bretagne – Séché Environnement attempted to break free from the peloton and join the breakaway, who were roughly 2’30” ahead.
However, the peloton were not willing to let Malacarne or Docker bridge the gap to the five-man breakaway.
The peloton would eventually catch the breakaway with roughly 55 kilometres left to ride. However, several new riders would decide to chance their lucky and attack from the peloton.
With Omega Pharma – Quick-Step’s Guillaume van Keirsbulck the most prominent name to try and escape. Frederik Veuchelen of Vancansoleil – DCM and Boris Dron of the earlier breakaway would join Van Keirsbulck in the new breakaway.
With 45 kilometres – or three laps – remaining, the new three-man breakaway had a time advantage over the peloton of about 26 seconds, with Jimmy Engoulvent of Sojasun stuck in between the two groups attempting to bridge the gap.
At around 43 kilometres to go Engoulvent would be re-assimilated by the peloton, ending his attempt to join the three-man breakaway at the front of the race.
The three-man breakaway was caught by the peloton with 40 kilometres of the stage remaining.
With the breakaway caught before the third intermediate sprint point, John Degenkolb of Argos-Shimano would win the intermediate sprint and claim three bonus seconds.
Those three bonus seconds would move Degenkolb to within four seconds of the General Classification leader Jens Debusschere of Lotto-Belisol.
Drama at the intermediate sprint point would cause several splits in the peloton, leaving Debusschere vulnerable to his rivals in the General Classification.
Michael Mørkøv of Team Saxo-Tinkoff spotted the danger and took his opportunity to position himself in the front split.
Garmin-Sharp, along with several other teams, would be forced to commit riders to chasing the new breakaway to protect their General Classification positions.
With 30 kilometres of the fourth and final stage remaining, the peloton would neutralise the split containing Mørkøv.
In spite of attempts from the peloton to control the race, several cyclists would attempt to form yet another breakaway; the stage would ultimately end in a sprint.
Inside the final kilometre Lotto-Belisol would claim pole position approaching the finishing line and the bunch sprint.
John Degenkolb was the first to launch his sprint, holding off his rivals to claim the stage victory.
With Jens Debusschere finishing second ahead of Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Sharp in third, John Degenkolb claimed the overall race victory due to the bonus seconds up for grabs on the finishing line.
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