With a flat finish and a long run in to catch any breakaways, today’s stage was made for the sprinters. In spite of the day’s break managing to stay out for almost the entire length of the 176km stage, after being denied on yesterday’s stage by a late attack, the sprinters and their teams weren’t going to be denied today. After a brutal final few kilometres, which saw a crash nearly take Alberto down, the Tinkoff leader’s quick reactions helped him keep hold of the GC lead, crossing the line a few seconds down on the sprinters.
With the Critérium du Dauphiné entering the mountains tomorrow, today was the last day the sprinters were going to contest the stage win. On the 176km route, there were only two fourth category climbs to traverse, and with these out of the way before the 100km mark, the profile before the finish was relatively flat, with only a couple of small humps for the riders to negotiate. With the final 35km of the stage a loop of the town of Belley, the sprinters would have a chance to ride the final stretch as part of the finishing circuit, giving them a tactical insight into the end of the stage.
As has been the character of the race so far, the attacks came from the very start of the stage. Needing to protect Alberto Contador’s race lead, the Tinkoff riders had to be careful who they let go, however with some significant time gaps forming in the GC standings owing to the aggressive pace of the previous days’ stages, today’s first break was allowed to go out, the strongest rider being more than ten minutes down on Alberto in the GC.
With the group of three building up their advantage and the gap stabilising at around five minutes ahead, the peloton was relaxed, with Tinkoff being supported by some of the sprint teams to maintain the pace in the peloton. Today’s race was slower than usual, owing to some headwinds reducing the average speed to a little over 30km/h, but in spite of this, and some rain falling on the stage, the peloton was slowly reeling the break in as the stage reached its 100km point. With 75km to the finish, the sprint teams took over at the head of the peloton, their intentions for the stage confirmed.
The breakaway was pushing hard to hold the peloton at bay, and with 21km of the stage remaining, the break put on a sudden surge of effort to increase their gap again before, at 13km out, one of the escapees – on his home roads – went it alone. The sprint teams weren’t going to allow a breakaway to win another stage however, and with 4km to go it was all back together for the run in to the sprint finish.
From the finish, Sport Director, Steven De Jongh, knew the sprinters would push hard after being denied yesterday. “The sprint teams wanted to sprint today, which meant we didn’t have to work all day, which was good. It was a tough day out there though – we had to keep the pace at the start and towards the end the sprinters were working really hard to take the win, which made the last few kilometres really difficult.”
With the stage nearing its end, the lead up to the sprint was becoming more and more chaotic, as Alberto experienced first-hand. “It was a relatively calm stage until the finale, which was truly crazy. Initially, it seemed as if the group would cross the finish line together. However, right after the 2km mark there was a big pile-up which caused gaps in the peloton.”
With the pace high, it was clear the sprinters were battling hard for their chance to take the stage. With everyone pushing hard at the front, there was a big crash right in front of Alberto that saw bikes flying and the Tinkoff leader having to swerve hard to avoid being caught up in the immediate aftermath. As the GC contenders pushed to the front so as not to lose time, it became imperative for Alberto to stay safe, with many choosing to drop back a little to keep upright than become caught in the mayhem of the sprint, while others expected the 3km rule, where the GC riders would take the same time as the bunch, to be applied. With the sprinters across the line, Alberto crossed shortly afterwards and for another day maintained his hold on the GC lead.
De Jongh, was disappointed that Alberto had ultimately lost some time after the crash. “Unfortunately we lost some seconds today. The crash caused some real uncertainty in the group. We were expecting the 3km rule to be applied, but we ended up losing time. Alberto and some of the other GC riders tried to fight back to the front, but some of the other teams’ sprint train riders sat up and delayed the riders behind and the commissaries allowed the time gaps to stand. We were hoping the decision would be clearer – sometimes the jury will make a decision that goes for you, sometimes it goes against you, but the uncertainty creates lots of stress for the GC riders. It needs to be clearer so the sprint teams can take the risk, and the GC riders can stay safe – especially at the end of the day where there can be a lot of street furniture that can cause crashes.”
Alberto shared his Sport Director’s frustration with the response to the crash. “I was caught at the back and I lost nine seconds to some GC contenders. The truth is nine seconds don’t worry me, but what worries me more is the 3km rule. It has to be applied and we need clarity.”
With the sprint stages finished now, the race will start to take shape for the GC contenders. Tomorrow the Dauphiné will venture into the Alps, where on the shortest day of the race, at 140km, the most climbs will be ascended by the peloton. Stage 5 features seven climbs, including the uphill finish into Vaujany, with the toughest being the first category Col du Barrioz, which at 7.8km in length, featuring an average gradient of 6.5% and ramps approaching 10%. Closely following the Barrioz, the Col des Ayes is shorter, at 3.8km, but an average gradient of 8.1% will hurt riders – especially when there are still 90km still to ride before the finish. With a long stretch in the bottom of the Isere valley before the climb to the ski town of Vaujany, it’s uncertain whether an escape will go in this gently-undulating section, or if the attacks will wait until the final 6.5% climb, where a 9.4% ramp in the final 2km might split the field.
Ahead of tomorrow’s stage, De Jongh was expecting it to come down to the final climb. “There are a lot of climbs, but most of them come in the first half, then there’s the long stretch before the uphill finish. We will wait and see what we’re going to do – we’ll decide tomorrow morning. Tomorrow kicks off a hard few days in the mountains so we’ll see how we’re feeling. It will come down to the final climb – if it goes away before then, the other GC teams will take control, so we’ll see what happens then.”
Alberto was waiting until the stage started tomorrow to gauge how he was feeling and how he would ride. “The Dauphiné is like the Tour. You don’t know how you feel until you reach the mountain stages. I will take it day by day. We finished this first half of the race with the yellow jersey, something that wasn’t in our plans. Our goal was to have a good first day and then see how we are reaching the mountain stages. Despite having the yellow jersey we won’t take more responsibilities than necessary. We will see how tomorrow unfolds and we will adapt our plans. We will take it one day at a time, see how the legs feel and check our form.”
Stage Result
1. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) Dimension Data 04:39:26
2. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Etixx – Quick-Step +00:00:00
3. Nacer Bouhanni (FRA) Cofidis +00:00:00
4. Jens Debusschere (BEL) Lotto Soudal +00:00:00
5. Greg Van Avermaet (BEL) BMC Racing Team +00:00:00
29. Alberto Contador (SPA) Tinkoff +00:00:09
87. Roman Kreuziger (CZE) Tinkoff +00:00:33
90. Michael Valgren (DEN) Tinkoff +00:00:33
93. Robert Kiserlovski (CRO) Tinkoff +00:00:33
133. Sergio Paulinho (POR) Tinkoff +00:01:24
136. Michael Gogl (AUT) Tinkoff +00:01:36
162. Jesper Hansen (DEN) Tinkoff +00:04:35
GC After Stage 4
1. Alberto Contador (SPA) Tinkoff 17:52:45
2. Chris Froome (GBR) Team Sky +00:00:04
3. Richie Porte (AUS) BMC Racing Team +00:00:06
4. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Etixx-Quick Step +00:00:09
5. Dan Martin (IRL) Etixx-Quick Step +00:00:12
57. Roman Kreuziger (CZE) Tinkoff +00:03:45
58. Robert Kiserlovski (CRO) Tinkoff +00:04:17
72. Jesper Hansen (DEN) Tinkoff +00:09:24
155. Michael Valgren (DEN) Tinkoff +00:33:50
161. Sergio Paulinho (POR) Tinkoff +00:35:42
162. Michael Gogl (AUT) Tinkoff +00:35:49
