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The second sprint stage in a row greets the riders on Stage 4 of the Tour de France. After a stressful few days, they will be hoping that today is relatively simple for the majority of the stage.
The longest stage of the Tour at 237.5 kilometres starts in the town of Saumur and will head south towards the finish line at Limoges. In between is a fairly flat terrain for the majority of the stage.
The first real obstacle of the days stage comes after 170 kilometres (yes it is going to be one of them boring Tour stages) with the intermediate sprint in the town of Le Dorat. Only 12 kilometres later we have the only King of the Mountains point on the day’s stage, with the category four climb of the Cote de la Maison Neuve being completed inside the final 60 kilometres.
From there, lumpy roads ensue for the next 30 kilometres before the final 27 kilometres which are predominantly downhill, except for a small climb inside the final ten kilometres, and the final 500 metres up to the finish line.
The Cote de Palais starts inside the final ten kilometres, and while only a short climb of 1.2 kilometres at five per cent. However, looking at the Strava segment, the climbing is done in only 700 metres, so the climb is much steeper than what the segment says it is. It may be difficult for the big pure sprinters to get over, if a team like Tinkoff or Orica-BikeExchange look to break the race apart for both Sagan and Matthews respectively.
It is then a very quick sweeping descent into the final five kilometres, which are fairly simple from the looks of things, with the only difficult set of corners being at around two kilometres to go, with a quick right and left in quick succession. From there on it is a straight run into the final 500 metres and the finish.
The final 400 metres according to Strava is uphill at about 5.5 percent, meaning that Kittel may struggle with the final, however, Griepel showed on Stage 5 of this year’s Giro that he is fairly comfortable with that gradient.
However, after a superb performance on Stage 2, Peter Sagan will fancy his chances to take his second stage win, while Michael Matthews will be hoping for better support from his team on a stage that very much suits his capabilities.
Other riders to look out for include Mark Cavendish and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data), Greg van Avermat (BMC), Jasper Stuyven and Edward Thens (Trek-Segafredo), Leigh Howard (IAM Cycling), Ramunas Navarduskas (Cannondale-Drapac), John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin), Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie).
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