Lille, 8th of July – 2014
There are no easy Tour de France stages and today’s 166 kilometer long fourth stage from Le Touquet-Paris-Plage to Villeneuve d´Ascq Lille Metropole was no exception. Fierce crosswinds dominated the events and the peloton was nervous. As a result, the defending champion, Chris Froome had an unfortunate crash.
Frenchman, the constantly communicating Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) and Spaniard Luis Maté (Cofidis) went away straight from the gun and maintained the gap to the peloton where Astana were setting the pace with a great deal of support from Lars Bak (Lotto-Belisol). Closing in on the escapees and the cobblestone section, BMC, Cannondale and Lotto-Belisol picked up the pace significantly and the peloton split up in to big groups. Tinkoff-Saxo’s Alberto Contador was well protected by Daniele Bennati and Matteo Tosatto and they were at all times visible on the front. In the second group, Michael Kwiatkowski (Omega-Pharma Quick Step) were on the chase to save his chance in the GC.
Unfortunately for Luis Maté, he had a flat tire at this crucial point of the race and was distanced by Voeckler who kept pushing on, now alone. But it was all over with 17 kilometers to go as both Giant-Shimano and Tinkoff-Saxo were now pushing the pace. Unfortunately, André Greipel’s leadout, Greg Henderson (Lotto-Belisol) crashed late in the stage, which left Marcel Kittel as an even bigger favorite for the stage win. Tinkoff-Saxo’s always hard-working Matteo Tosatto and Daniele Bennati guided Alberto Contador perfectly through the finale where slippery roads and road furniture made the run-in rather complicated.
In the expected bunch sprint, Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) created a small gap but Kittel managed to get around the strong Norwegian and concluded his hat trick. Tinkoff-Saxo’s Alberto Contador finished safely in the bunch and moved to 5th overall.
DS, Philippe Mauduit was happy about today’s effort:
“Matteo and Benna were really working hard and delivered Alberto perfectly for the final kilometers and he’s now 5th overall, which means a better position for us tomorrow in the caravan and that will make a difference. It’s going to be a crazy stage for everyone tomorrow. For the riders, for me and for the spectators along the slippery wet cobblestone sections. We’ll do whatever we can to stay near the front to avoid getting involved in crashes or held up by any pile-ups but that’s what everybody wants and therefore the pace will be extremely high,” said Mauduit.
