Of all the days when the electricity could go out in the Chunnel tunnel between England and France, of course it was precisely when journalists and fans (well, me at least) were travelling from London to Calais & Lille to catch stage 4. My train, scheduled to be 100 minutes, arrived in Lille over 2 hours late, but I was just happy it wasn't cancelled outright!
The set up was a bit different today: fences prevented fans from getting any closer than about 5 or 6 meters shy of the finish line and the front area was reserved for wheelchairs.
I've needed my raincoat everyday of the Tour so far this year. Maybe I'll try to get some people to shelter me with umbrellas like Greg Lemond has!
With about 50 kilometers to go, several fans stormed the fences that locked off access to the finish line and awards podium. Upon seeing the volume of spectators, the organizers removed the remaining fences and opened up the area, allowing me to be halfway between the finish and the podium.
Today's stage was another flat one and the final kilometers were every sprinter's dream.
Two riders, Thomas Voeckler of Europcar and Luis Mate of Cofidis, escaped the peloton early on and stayed away for most of the day. Mate punctured at one point and Voeckler carried on solo until the peloton absorbed him towards the finish.
With Cav completely out of the picture, it will fall on Andre Griepel to challenge sprinter extraordinaire, Marcel Kittel. Unfortunately, Greg Henderson, one of Griepel's lead out men, crashed and abandoned the race today. I'm not sure if Henderson's absence played a role or not, but the German champion could only manage a 6th place finish today behind Kittel. Kristoff Alexander and Arnaud Démare challenged Kittel and ended up 2nd and 3rd respectively.
The rest of the peloton finished up: Jens Voigt.
Tony Martin and Niki Terpstra.
Maciej Bodnar.
Tom Veelers and Koen De Kort grasped hands and slapped each other on the back to celebrate another successful lead out train for their teammate.
163 kilometers weren't enough for Jan Bakelants and Simon Gerrans to finish up their conversation, so they carried on right through the finish line.
Luke Durbridge and Svein Tuft are a powerful 2 man time trial squad–too bad today was a road stage!
Teammates Ben King and Dutch champion Sebastian Langeveld.
Jerome Pineau looks back to check his finish time.
Another stage finished for Jack Bauer and Alex Howes.
A deep exhale as Kittel climbed the podium to receive his prizes for his hat-trick stage win.
No changes in the jerseys today. Nibali in yellow.
Sagan won the sprinter's and young rider's jersey.
Cyril Lemoine gets another day in polka dots.
The fans went crazy when Thomas Voeckler was named the stage's most combative rider.
As I wondered through the buses with a pair of brothers from the US, we spotted Nibali making his way from the podium to the Astana bus.
After a short wait, I noticed Kittel walking up the street towards a waiting team car. A small mob was also waiting and the big German indulged some of the fans with photos and autographs before he was finally able to get into the car.
