2015 Tour de France stage 4

At 223.5 kilometers, stage 4 from Seraing, Belgium to Cambrai, France was the longest of all twenty one stages, but the truth is the first 177 kilometers really didn't matter much. The peloton was delighted to let a non-threatening breakaway go in the form of Lieuwe Westra, Thomas De Gendt, Perrig Quemeneur, and Frederic Brun. With the first of seven cobbled sectors completed, the quartet was predictably reeled in ahead of the remaining six sectors, which would come in quick succession in the last fortyish kilometers.

 

The GC teams jockeyed for position, generally pairing up their leader with their pavé specialist, while the Classics riders went at it solo. The field thinned out over each following sector, the dust kicking up and coating the riders like a cycling christening.

 

Close to forty riders remained in the mix after emerging from the final cobbled stretch with just thirteen kilometers until Cambrai. While other riders took halfhearted digs or attempted to lift the pace a little, only Tony Martin made a move and committed to it. In the final 3 kilometers, the multiple World TT champion rode away from the pack, immediately opening up a commanding gap. Martin is not generally a rider for the cobbles, but sitting just one second behind Chris Froome and the maillot jaune coming into stage 4 and after missing out on yellow in stage 2 when teammate Mark Cavendish controversially sat upon the final sprint, allowing Fabian Cancellara to grab the last available bonus seconds, the German would not be caught as he time trialed his way through the streets of Cambrai and into the maillot jaune.

 

With GC favorites and pavé specialists among the thirty plus riders in the chase group, it was a battle for second place. John Degenkolb, who knows a thing or two after winning this year's Paris-Roubaix, won the bunch sprint when Peter Sagan threw his bike too soon and Greg Van Avermaet couldn't keep up.

 

Bauke Mollema and Vincenzo Nibali remained in 12th and 13th places on GC, respectively, but both lost a handful of seconds.

 

Alberto Contador finished on bunch time to remain in 8th overall.

 

Nairo Quintana, widely expected to be the weakest of the GC favorites on the cobbles, also came in on bunch time and didn't move in the overall ranking.

 

Though he doesn't have tremendous experience ridding the cobbles, Andrew Talansky did well to stay with the bunch and even moved up a couple of spots on GC.

 

Manuel Quinziato and Jan Bakelants.

 

Kristijan Koren and Florian Senechal.

 

Angelo Tulik checked to see who was behind him.

 

Koen De Kort, normally an animated character, looked absolutely drained sitting up to cross the finish line.

 

Rui Costa finished under a threatening sky.

 

Marcel Sieberg and Alberto Losada checked the screen for the results and times.

 

Sylvain Chavanel and Nick Roche.

 

Dominik Nerz.

 

Nelson Oliveira, Jarlinson Pantano, and Michal Golas.

 

Danilo Wyss.

 

Gorka Izagirre and Jonathan Castroviejo looked like they'd lost a fight with a vacuum cleaner.

 

Geoffrey Soupe.

 

Ramunas Navardauskas brought a group in after he'd protected team leader Talansky on the pavé.

 

Wilco Kelderman, Andre Greipel, Ryder Hesjedal, and Sami Sanchez arrived together.

 

Luke Durbridge rode in ahead of his IAM and BMC colleagues.

 

Rohan Dennis and Daniel Oss's bandages bore witness to a rough start to the Tour de France.

 

Ian Stannard might have liked to have a go at the stage but he was presumably have been under strict orders to protect team leader Froome.

 

His face blackened with dust, Jack Bauer led in an argyle train with Sebastian Langeveld, Nathan Haas, and Dan Martin.

 

Coming in at 5:37 down, Haimar Zubeldia, Imanol Erviti, Adam Yates, and a ragged crew.

 

With more dust on his face than on his kit, Peter Kennaugh came in 5:50 back.

 

Michal Kwiatkowski and Matteo Trentin pulled a group home.

 

Winner of last year's cobbled stage on a miserable and rainy day, Lars Boom did not have the race he had hoped for, though he did help Nibali finish on bunch time.

 

While the course suited Alexander Kristoff, he only managed to finish in 164th place, just over six minutes back.

 

Sep Vanmarcke, who had been well positioned on the cobbles when the race animated, got dropped somewhere along the way and finished a disappointing 7:03 behind Tony Martin.

 

Mark Renshaw talked with the press.

 

Full of dust, Dylan Van Baarle hydrated.

 

A weary Kristoff headed to the bus.

 

Bob Jungels.

 

Leopold König and Laurent Didier.

 

Emanuel Buchmann somehow emerged from the cobbles in the whitest kit of the entire peloton.

 

No doubt they've had easier days, but it was great to see that both Adam Hansen and Greg Henderson had survived the cobbled stage in one piece.

 

Winner Anacona gave an interview at his team bus.

 

A dusty De Kort spoke with the press.

 

While fans milled around the team buses where riders got cleaned up, no doubt the peloton wanted a mental break before turning their thoughts to tomorrow. Stage 5 runs along the north of France where major WWI battles took place. It looks like a day for the sprinters but watch out that the winds don't cause splits or push the peloton towards the finish in Amiens faster than usual.