Tour de France stage four preview: Dream day for breakaway artists on climb-heavy stage

Yahoo

21 hours ago

After a trio of stages in France's far north, the Tour de France route ventures southwards to really kick off its anti-clockwise jaunt around the country.
Amiens is the host town for this tricky 173km run to Rouen, a stage which a multitude of riders and teams will have bookmarked as it really could be anyone's game.
It's also one we picked out to potentially trip up the general classification contenders if they don't keep their wits - and their teammates - about them.
The parcours is rolling all day with plenty of uncategorised lumps and bumps before the technical climbing starts in the final third of the stage, with five categorised climbs inside the last 50km, three cat-fours and two-cat twos - including the Cote Jacques Anquetil, after the Tour great.
Any split in the bunch could be lethal to the chances of yellow jersey hopefuls caught on the wrong side, and it's could be another day of relentless attacking and counter-attacking as riders look to launch winning moves and avoid missing out.
The final climb comes 5km from the finish, the 800m wall of the 10.6% Rampe Saint-Hilaire, which is likely to be decisive.
Stage four is set to begin at 1.15pm local time, 12.15pm BST, and finish at 5.20pm local time (4.20pm BST).
This could quite literally be anyone's game, to the point that it feels impossible to predict. Victor Campenaerts and Jonas Abrahamsen will surely light up the race with plenty of attacks, but whether they make the crucial break is another story, and the former may instead be pressed into service keeping Jonas Vingegaard out of danger.
Romain Gregoire also likes this sort of terrain; Alex Aranburu and Thibau Nys can climb and pack a punch too. Of what feels like a hundred options, we're going with Axel Laurance, who likes a punchy stage and has been a constant attacking presence for Ineos Grenadiers this year.