Pogacar takes stage with 100th win to level with yellow
In the hometown of the Tour's first five-time winner Jacques Anquetil, Pogacar took a stride to what he hopes will be his fourth title with a show of strength on another classics-style stage, beating Van der Poel and his great rival Jonas Vingegaard in an uphill sprint.
It was Pogacar's 18th career Tour stage win and one that put him on the same time as Van der Poel - who retains yellow on countback - with Vingegaard eight seconds back going into Wednesday's time trial.
Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious) was the highest placed Australian, finishing 39 seconds behind in 28th while Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla), still seeming troubled by Monday's crash, lost another 1:49. He is now 2:36 adrift on GC with Haig six places ahead in 23rd, 2:05 behind the leaders.
The 174 km route from Amiens, had five categorised climbs, all in the last 50 km. Lenny Martinez, the last survivor of a four-man breakaway, was collected with around 20 km left as Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad and Vingegaard's Visma-Lease A Bike team came to the fore, quickly making a major reduction in the peloton as few could keep with the pace.
Pogacar attacked on the steepest section of the last categorised climb, doing 24kph with gradients hitting 15 per cent on the Rampe Saint-Hilaire. He briefly distanced Vingegaard, who was the only man who could follow, and took the points, before the Dane got back onto his wheel.
Remco Evenepoel dragged a handful of riders back across to the leading pair on the descent into Rouen, Van der Poel among them, but there would be no beating the world champion to victory.
"I think today I got very, very close to the limit," Pogacar said. "I tried with an attack on the last climb and then Jonas followed me and everything came together.
"To win at the Tour is incredible, to do it in this jersey even more so and to win 100 victories is amazing.
"Tomorrow is the real test. Already to win a stage in this jersey for me it's enough. Of course we aim for yellow and we will see."
Evenepoel conceded another three seconds to Pogacar and Vingegaard, leaving him 58 seconds off yellow, while Primoz Roglic lost 32 seconds to fall one minute 27 seconds down.
Tadej Pogacar has claimed the 100th victory of his professional career to move level on time with Mathieu van der Poel in the yellow jersey on a thrilling stage four of the Tour de France in Rouen.
In the hometown of the Tour's first five-time winner Jacques Anquetil, Pogacar took a stride to what he hopes will be his fourth title with a show of strength on another classics-style stage, beating Van der Poel and his great rival Jonas Vingegaard in an uphill sprint.
It was Pogacar's 18th career Tour stage win and one that put him on the same time as Van der Poel - who retains yellow on countback - with Vingegaard eight seconds back going into Wednesday's time trial.
Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious) was the highest placed Australian, finishing 39 seconds behind in 28th while Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla), still seeming troubled by Monday's crash, lost another 1:49. He is now 2:36 adrift on GC with Haig six places ahead in 23rd, 2:05 behind the leaders.
The 174 km route from Amiens, had five categorised climbs, all in the last 50 km. Lenny Martinez, the last survivor of a four-man breakaway, was collected with around 20 km left as Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad and Vingegaard's Visma-Lease A Bike team came to the fore, quickly making a major reduction in the peloton as few could keep with the pace.
Pogacar attacked on the steepest section of the last categorised climb, doing 24kph with gradients hitting 15 per cent on the Rampe Saint-Hilaire. He briefly distanced Vingegaard, who was the only man who could follow, and took the points, before the Dane got back onto his wheel.
Remco Evenepoel dragged a handful of riders back across to the leading pair on the descent into Rouen, Van der Poel among them, but there would be no beating the world champion to victory.
"I think today I got very, very close to the limit," Pogacar said. "I tried with an attack on the last climb and then Jonas followed me and everything came together.
"To win at the Tour is incredible, to do it in this jersey even more so and to win 100 victories is amazing.
"Tomorrow is the real test. Already to win a stage in this jersey for me it's enough. Of course we aim for yellow and we will see."
Evenepoel conceded another three seconds to Pogacar and Vingegaard, leaving him 58 seconds off yellow, while Primoz Roglic lost 32 seconds to fall one minute 27 seconds down.
Tadej Pogacar has claimed the 100th victory of his professional career to move level on time with Mathieu van der Poel in the yellow jersey on a thrilling stage four of the Tour de France in Rouen.
In the hometown of the Tour's first five-time winner Jacques Anquetil, Pogacar took a stride to what he hopes will be his fourth title with a show of strength on another classics-style stage, beating Van der Poel and his great rival Jonas Vingegaard in an uphill sprint.
It was Pogacar's 18th career Tour stage win and one that put him on the same time as Van der Poel - who retains yellow on countback - with Vingegaard eight seconds back going into Wednesday's time trial.
Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious) was the highest placed Australian, finishing 39 seconds behind in 28th while Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla), still seeming troubled by Monday's crash, lost another 1:49. He is now 2:36 adrift on GC with Haig six places ahead in 23rd, 2:05 behind the leaders.
The 174 km route from Amiens, had five categorised climbs, all in the last 50 km. Lenny Martinez, the last survivor of a four-man breakaway, was collected with around 20 km left as Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad and Vingegaard's Visma-Lease A Bike team came to the fore, quickly making a major reduction in the peloton as few could keep with the pace.
Pogacar attacked on the steepest section of the last categorised climb, doing 24kph with gradients hitting 15 per cent on the Rampe Saint-Hilaire. He briefly distanced Vingegaard, who was the only man who could follow, and took the points, before the Dane got back onto his wheel.
Remco Evenepoel dragged a handful of riders back across to the leading pair on the descent into Rouen, Van der Poel among them, but there would be no beating the world champion to victory.
"I think today I got very, very close to the limit," Pogacar said. "I tried with an attack on the last climb and then Jonas followed me and everything came together.
"To win at the Tour is incredible, to do it in this jersey even more so and to win 100 victories is amazing.
"Tomorrow is the real test. Already to win a stage in this jersey for me it's enough. Of course we aim for yellow and we will see."
Evenepoel conceded another three seconds to Pogacar and Vingegaard, leaving him 58 seconds off yellow, while Primoz Roglic lost 32 seconds to fall one minute 27 seconds down.
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