Mark Cavendish speaks ...
“Carnage it was,” says the Astana rider. “Every team will have had a plan for that final and I bet there wasn’t any that it went right for, apart from Jumbo getting their guys into that narrow road [at the entrance to the race circuit] early. It was a melting pot of riders in the final and I was constantly analysing who was there, who had other teammates and just jumping from train to train.
“Finally I seen that Mads [Pedersen] had [Jasper] Stuyven with him and they usually go early so I thought I’d use that, but it didn’t happen. In the end the rest of them got the jump on me and it was all about me getting the best finishing position for myself.”
It’s a remarkable bit of analysis, considering the chaos that was unfolding around him. He goes on to express his concern for the welfare of his teammate Luis Leon Sanchez, who was one of several riders to hit the deck in the final couple of kilometres of today’s race.
Updated
Top five on General Classification
Adam Yates (UAE Emirates) 18hr 18min 01sec
Tadej Pogacar (UAE EMirates) +06sec
Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla) +06sec
Victor Lafay (Cofidis) +12sec
Wout van Aert +16sec
🏆 🇧🇪 @JasperPhilipsen wins in Nogaro!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 4, 2023
🏆🇧🇪 @JasperPhilipsen double la mise à Nogaro !#TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/X06zq1v7N2
The top five in stage four
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 4hr 25min 23sec
Caleb Ewan (Lotto–Dstny)
Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious)
Bryan Coquard (Cofidis)
Mark Cavendish (Astana)
Jasper Philipsen speaks: “It was a really easy stage,” says the stage winner. “I think everyone was trying to save some legs for the Pyrenees tomorrow. In the final kilomtre entering the circuit I heard several crashes around me so I hope everybody is OK and safe. It was a bit of a hectic final with the turns and I lost my team as well but in the ifnal straight I found Mathieu Van der Poel again and he did an amazing pull to get me to victory. My legs were cramping and Caleb was coming close.”
It's another win for Jasper Philipsen!
In chaotic scenes with riders strewn all over the road in the home straight, Mathieu Van der Poel provides another perfect lead-out for Philipsen, who wins by half a wheel from Caleb Ewan. Phil Bauhaus was third for Bahrain Victorious.
Updated
Jasper Philipsen wins stage four!!!
The Alpecin–Deceuninck sprinter looks to have won his second consecutive stage by inches from Caleb Ewan.
1km to go: Cofidis are doing a fine job for Bryan Coquard as the riders enter the 800m-long home straight. There’s another crash but Mark Cavendish is still upright.
1.6km to go: Fabio Jakobsen crashes! he won’t be winning today!
3.1km to go: Jumbo-Visma lead the peloton into the entrance of the Nogaro circuit with various riders near the front looking over their shoulders to see where their team-mates are.
4.6km to go: It’s getting more and more technical and the riders from various teams are getting separated from each other and starting to panic a little. Mark Cavendish is still in a good position about 12 riders from the front but Wout van Aert has lost about 30 places.
5km to go: Aussie sprinter Sam Welsford (DSM-Firmenich) elects to go the “wrong” side of a traffic island and drops to near the back of the bunch, having been riding third wheel and in a brilliant position.
8km to go: Some of the teams are riding in train formation, while others are grouped around their sprinter. Mark Cavendish is in the second row of the bunch, riding on the wheel of his teammate Luis Leon Sanchez.
9km to go: The peloton is tightly bunched with riders from eight different teams spread out across the front as we hit the final 10 klilometres of the race. The focus, obviously, is on the sprinters but everybody has his own particular job to do to help deliver their man to the front of the race near the finish line at the most opportune moment.
13km to go: Here, in no particular order, are the names to look out for in the final couple of hundred metres of today’s stage: Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla), Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal- Quick Step), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Mark Cavendish (Astana), Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious), Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma), Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X) and Sam Welsford (DSM-Firmenich).
Updated
17km to go: Having reeled in today’s somewhat half-hearted breakaway, the peloton continue to make their way towards the Nogaro racing circuit, where there’s something of a pinch-point at the entrance, three kilometres from the finish line. They’re riding seven abreast in the peloton at the moment at a speed of 57km per hour.
23km to go: The cycle in the washing machine has started and packed tightly across the road, the riders of Alpecin-Deceuninck, Jumbo Visma, Lotto Dstny, Bahrain Victorius and Bora-Hansgrohe are conspicous in their little groups near the front.
💚 70 years ago, the green jersey was first introduced on the Tour de France. The best sprinters in the history of cycling have fought for it since!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 4, 2023
💚 Le maillot vert est né il y a 70 ans sur le Tour ! Depuis, les meilleurs sprinteurs du monde se sont battus pour.#TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/ioJyoMXY9e
27km to go: In the breakaway, Anthony Delaplace takes the solitary King of the Mountains point available on today’s stage. The gap to the bunch is down to 16 seconds.
28km to go: The riders are tackling today’s only categorised climb, the Cat 4 Cote de Dému, which is two kilometres long and 218m high.
Updated
3okm to go:
34km to go: Anthony Delapplace (Arkea Samsic) and Benoit Cosnefory (AG2R Citreon) remain in front of the chasing posse, with a lead of 35 seconds. At the back of that posses, Astana’s Luis Leon Sanchez has a problem with his chain and stops to fix the problem with the help of a passing Cofidis mechanic. He gets back on his back and sets off in pursuit of the bunch.
Peloton politics: “I’m fairly sure that back in the 80s and before, one of the grizzled elder statesmen of the Tour (think Bernard Hinault or Gilbert Duclos-Lasalle) would decide how hard the peloton would ride at any given point,” writes Thomas Atkins. “And if they decided that the peloton was going to have an easy day, then woe betide anyone who attacked and upped the tempo when they weren’t supposed to.”
“It might not be great for viewers and advertisers but it’s arguably no worse than it being dictated by directeurs sportives who have crunched the numbers before the start and decided on precisely the mix of riders who would be allowed to ride off the front until a controlled and entirely predictable catch in the last 20-30kms.”
39km to go: We’re heading towards the business end of the stage, with the entrance to the Nogaro motor racing circuit where today’s race will be concluded approximately three kilometres from the finish.
Here’s Fabio Jakobsen on today’s finish: “Today looks good,” he told Eurosport this morning. “You’ve got a few corners but it’s wide. The last 750m is in as straight line so if you have the horses and the position then you can do it and at least [unlike yesterday] a straight line is a straight line, eh?”
46km to go: “On this slow news day, in Tour de France terms at least, I was wondering what your thoughts were regarding Jasper Philipsen having the ultimate cheat-code for the sprints with Mathieu Van der Poel as lead-out man extraordinaire?” asks Sam Huscroft. “I wonder if Cav’s best bet is to tag on to this ‘train’ and give it the beans?”
I’m not sure that a 38-year-old Cav no longer has the “beans” required to get near Philipsen in an out-and-out sprint. In terms Tory MPs Lee Andrews and Brendan Clarke-Smith might struggle to understand, Philipsen’s beans are of the Heinz variety, compared to the own brand version Cav is reduced to giving these days. The gap is down to 36 seconds.
53km to go: Messrs Cosnefroy and Delaplace are a minute clear of the bunch, which is being led by the riders of Alpecin-Deceuninck at a speed of 57km per hour.
Updated
Intermediate sprint result
With so much going on out on the road, it’s taken a while to cobble together the result of the intermediate sprint.
1. Jasper Philipsen (20pts)
2. Bryan Coquard (17)
3. Caleb Ewan (15)
4. Mads Pedersen (13)
5. Jordi Meeus (11)
6. Mark Cavendish (10)
7. Favio Jakobsen (9)
8. Peter Sagan (8)
9. Alexander Kristoff (7)
10. Biniam Girmay (6)
11. Corbin Strong (5)
12. Michal Kwiatkowski (4)
13. Cees Bol (3)
14. Mathieu Van der Poel (2)
15. Jonas Abrahamsen (1)
Updated
69km to go: “Belgian TV have just been on the phone with Eddy Merckx,” writes Franky Vlaeminck. “Apparently he’s totally cool with Cavendish potentially beating his record number of wins.”
On Eurosport, former sprinter Robbie McEwan gives Cavendish a “one per cent chance” of winning the stage he needs to beat Merckx’s record during this Tour.
Updated
71 km to go: It’s a highlight of the afternoon for the riders as they pass through the feed zone and collete their musttes full of grub.
73km to go: “I’m having a laugh over people’s complaints about the lack of pace and attacks on today’s stage,” writes Dave Hill from Indiana. “These riders, the most extreme athletes in the world, whittle their bodies down to nubs over the course of 2,200 miles at speeds we couldn’t achieve in our dreams, and we’re complaining because they take a few hours to brace themselves for the trials to come? If nothing else, let’s just enjoy the scenery. Or get outside yourself on a ride today. Some people are never satisfied!”
It’s a fair point, well made. After all, some of these riders have spent two whole days whittling their bodies down to nubs in this year’s Tour since it started way, way back last Saturday. The gap is 50 seconds.
81km to go: In an interview with Eurosport, AG2R Citreon team manager Vincent Lavenu says that French TV were complaining that nothing is happening today and want to see some French riders at the head of the race, so he gave Benoit Cosnefroy permission to launch an attack.
His fellow Normandy native, Anthony Delaplace either agreed or was ordered to go with him, although the Arkea Samsic rider looked far less enthused by the prospect of embarking on what will almost certainly be little more than an energy-sapping kamikaze mission.
Finally, an attack!!!
84km to go: Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R Citreon) and Anthony Delaplace (Arkea Samsic) throw their chapeaux into the ring for today’s combativity award by jumping off the front of the bunch and attacking. It’s Cosnefroy who is in the box-seat for the race number encased in perspex, as he went first before looking over his shoulder to see if anyone might join him. They quickly open a gap of a minute.
Updated
88km to go: More excitement! At the front of the bunch, Quinn Simmons puts the hammer down to lead out Mads Pedersen for the intermediate sprint but it’s yesterday’s stage winner Jasper Philipsen who takes maximum points.
92km to go: “Historically, the Tour has been a force for fairness, non-cheating and following the spirt of cycling,” writes Ruaidhrí Groom. “But is there a chance that the peloton are taking it handy today to hand the stage to Cavendish? He should refuse to win such a stage!”
I can’t remember off the top of my head who it was but sone of our readers suggested yesterday that, given the paucity of talent in Cavendish’s team when it comes to leading out their sprinter, it’s not inconceivable that at some point later in the race, assorted mates of his from various teams might go rogue in order to form a train to help him win one of the later stages, much like happened in Rome at the Giro. On that occasion, Geraint Thomas put in a big shift to help deliver Cav to where he needed to be on the final day.
96km to go: Tell Franky (102km to go) that I am 62, have been cycling since I took the stablisers off and I am still bored,” writes Jem Lee. “Been telling mates how exciting the Tour is and what a spectacle it always is – they will think I have lost the plot watching this. I think even I could keep up with them at this rate.”
There are faint signs of life in the peloton as assorted teams start to get their ducks in a row ahead of the intermediate sprint in approxiamtely eight kilometres.
97km to go: With more than half of the stage to go, nothing continues to happen at quite a sedate pace. Good luck to the jury who have to pick the most combative rider from today’s stage. I’ve seen far more aggressive efforts when the traffic lights outside Stockwell Tube station turn green during a morning rush hour.
101km to go: “I hope the Australian and English riders are getting along since the feud between the Australian and English teams after the controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow in the second Ashes Test at Lords,” writes Robert Wong.
I think what we need is for the crowds lining the streets of the next town the peloton passes though to channel their inner MCC members by donning egg and bacon coloured ties and blazers before booing the riders through their locale.
102km to go: “I think it’s mostly people relatively new to the sport who like to whine about the lack of excitement right now,” writes Franky Vlaeminck. “They can always switch channels and get their fix from cricket! Not unusual to have a couple of stages like this each year really.”
Au contraire, Franky, it is very unusual. The last time we had a stage with nothing in the way of a breakaway was in 2020, when Wout van Aert won the sprint finish in Privas.
Updated
107km to go: Exciting news!!! Soudal Quick-Step rider Yves Lampaert has dropped out of the peloton to collect some drinks from the team car. Specifically, a bidon of water and one of those little cans of Coca-Cola you usually only seem to get from the drinks trolleys on airplanes.
113km to go: “It’s a shame Thomas De Gendt isn’t in it this year as I doubt he would have been able to put up with this,” writes Jem Lee. “It might allow Cav to save his legs but not sure what anyone really gains from a day like this. I just hope they are all focused at the pointy end of the race because this is like a Sunday afternoon out.”
Jem speaks truth. Up with this nonsense serial breakaway merchant Thomas De Gendt certainly would not put, while his part namesake Thomas Voeckler wouldn’t stand for it either. We clearly need more men named “Thomas” in the peloton to avoid days like this.
117km to go: After that brief moment of excitement, things settle down again. “Do the riders not even feel slightly guilty about the lack of entertainment on offer today for the viewers at home?” asks Natasha Young. “I know it’s a sport and not a variety show but holy moly. I’ve never been a big fan of sprint stages but this is the biggest snooze fest I can recall. Were I a team sponsor, I’d be less than impressed. If the Netflix doc crew are there, they’ll need to get creative if they want to include this stage.”
118km to go: “Maybe all of the Americans from every team could take a turn out front in honor of our holiday,” writes Susan Sanders. “Considering the state of things here, we could use a bit of a lift.”
121km to go: Jumbo-Visma’s Wout van Aert moves to the front of the bunch, injects some pace and is joined by – get this – several of his compatriots from Belgium. The peloton splits briefly but soon reforms.
Updated
122km to go: Arguably the most uneventful and boring stage in Tour de France history continues, but at least we have the promise of a cracking sprint finish to look forward to, assuming everyone involved can stay awake.
“On the subject of breakaways made up of rides from a single country,” writes David Alderton. “In 2021 the Belgian riders did very much the same in Paris-Nice on a quiet day. Gilbert was involved. I think there was an extra rider in there who was not from Belgium but they let him come along as he could speak Flemish.”
126km to go: “Given that none of the teams seem interested in any rider making a break, could today’s approach be a protest to the layout of the final few KMs of yesterday’s stage?” asks Neil Mackie.
“U-turns, low level street furniture, roundabouts and that curved finish, which also seemed to nearly cause Philipsen to crash into the barriers by himself (ignoring any deviation to prevent Wout van Aert going up the inside) … I doubt any of that pleased the teams since they all had representatives jostling in the washing machine of the peloton. I imagine we’ll see a sprint for the intermediate points, a small break for KoM points and then it will all settle down until the final 3k.”
I don’t think this is any sort of unofficial protest. According to Eurosport’s Philippe Gilbert, who knows all these lads very well, loads of the riders he’s been talking to as they go back to their team cars for refreshments want to launch attacks but their team directors won’t let them.
Updated
127km to go: “I sense some exasperated ennui on your part,” writes Paul Griffin. “Perhaps rather than thinking of this as a drab, tedious, soporific non-event, might I suggest you frame the lack of action as a rather beautiful Beckettian meditation on the essential futility of life? I’m personally waiting for Gaudu, rider No31, to attack.”
130km to go: Groupama-FDJ take over at the front of the unch, which is barreling along in extremely relaxed fashion at 43km per hour. Short of stopping at a roadside café for a couple of beers, it’s difficult to imagine how the 174-strong field could be more relaxed.
135km to go: The former rider Philippe Gilbert has the fun job of roving reporter following the race on the back of a motorbike for Eurosport and has just revealed that a number of his Belgian compatriots from assorted teams had been conspiring to launch a breakaway just for the hell of it, but upon suggesting the possibility to their team bosses had been told not to.
Race radio: The directeur sportif of DSM-Firmenich has some instructions for his team. ““Okay guys, let’s get together now, get in position, let’s start to take our spot,” he says.
After a lengthy pause he says: “I’m joking! For those who are worried, we need to wait a bit longer.”
It’s not just the riders who are taking the micky this afternoon.
147km to go: Led by Kasper Asgreen, a trio of riders from Soudal-Quick Step are towing the peloton along, with a few of their colleagues from Alpecin-Deceuninck tucked in behind them. They’re travelling at 36km per hour.
154km to go: The peloton is strung out like clothes on a washing line as we await the first attack of the day, while talk on Eurosport turns to yesterday’s sprint finish in which a bend in the final couple of hundred metres and some wayward barrier-placing led to Wout van Aert running out of road to sprint down as he tried to get up the inside of Jasper Philipsen, who won the stage.
Van Aert was forced to check his sprint in a manner others might not have ands following a lengthy stewards’ enquiry by the race jury, Philipsen was correctly adjudged not to have deviated from his racing line and kept the stage win. Fabio Jakobsen, who almost lost his life and had to go undergo facial reconstruction surgery after being put into the barriers in similar – but not identical – circumstances at last year’s Tour of Poland was critical of the placement of yesterday’s finish line.
“It’s just not nice for cycling, I think,” he said. “The parcours builder and the organiser really have to look into this, that on the first bunch sprint like that, when they are so many guys involved - it’s almost not a fair sprint.”
Updated
157km to go: As things stand, the peloton is already almost 10 minutes behind the slowest possible schedule envisaged by the Tour organisers, who can’t possibly be happy with the manner in which today’s non-event is not really unfolding. Here’s hoping they have floodlights at the finish line in Nogara.
166km to go: Nothing is happening and it looks set to continue not happening for the next four hours. Today’s finish is on a motor racing circuit in Nogaro and despite being a rouleur rather than a sprinter, Lidl-Trek rider Quinn Simmons has form in the field of winning on such a surface.
In January, the American pulled off a major shock by launching an attack with 500m to go in stage three of the at the Vuelta a San Juan in Argentina and managed to hold off the sprinters to pull off a victory that he said “might have saved my career”. It was a stage that began and ended on the motor-racing circuit at Villicum. Asked this morning if his team boss had given him permission to try to replicate his effort at a finish that is practically identical, the man tasked with riding in the service of Mads Pedersen said he’d suggested it but the answer was a resounding: “No”.
167km to go: This just in from the Bahrain Victorious on the race radio: “Nobody wants to go in the breakaway today, apparently. Push somebody out, huh! Push somebody to go.” A message for race director Christian Prudhomme, perhaps?
168km to go: We have an attack … of sorts. Possibly out of boredom, four riders jump off the front of the bunch but are quickly reined in.
169km to go: In situations like this where literally nobody is actually making an effort to attack, it is not unheard of for race directors to get in touch with various team managers to tell them to send somebody off an attack. There’s no sign of that happening here … yet.
Updated
170km to go: The peloton continues to dawdle along at a leisurely pace, riders are already stopping for comfort breaks and after yesterday’s heroic effort the Eurosport commentary team are already struggling to come up with things to talk about. In stark contrast, plenty of the cyclists are deep in conversation. This must be the stuff of the Tour organisers’ nightmares.
177km to go: The peloton continues to meander along the road out of Dax without anyone showing the slightest inclination to attack. This could be an exceptionally long afternoon. Given some of the smaller teams are only on the Tour because they’ve been given invitations, you could be forgiven for thinking they might feel compelled to appoint a couple of volunteers to go up the road to (a) liven things up a little bit and (b) garner some publicity for their sponsors.
They're off and racing in stage four!
Christian Prudhomme semaphores the signal to start racing and … not a single rider jumps off the front of the bunch to launch an attack. With just one King of the Mountain point up for grabs towardss the business end of the stage, not even Neilson Powless, who is in the polka-dot jersey and had a great time yesterday intereacting with the crowd while hoovering up points can be bothered to put a shift in.
Stage four is under way: The riders have set off from Dax in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France but are still in the neutral zone and have yet to be given the signal to start racing. Here’s hoping for a more substantial breakaway than the two-man effort we got yesterday.
Christian Prudhomme on stage four: “The stage is set for a rematch between the sprinters, but the hilly terrain of the Gers could also suit a small breakaway group,” writes the race director in the Tour handbook. “Their cooperation would have to be total to hold off the peloton, while the finish on the Nogaro motor-racing circuit will provide the stage winner with a success with a rare flavour. The peloton’s speedsters will certainly want to go head to head on the final 800-metre straight.”
General Classification: the top five
Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) 13hr 52 min 33sec
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +06sec
Simon Yates (Jayco–Alula) +06sec
Victor Lafay (Cofidis) +12sec
Wout van Aert +16sec
William Fotheringham on stage four: Even flatter than Monday, so another bunch sprint day; for the overall contenders it’s again about staying upright. A north wind may liven things up, but it’s more likely to be a slog through the heat before Mark Cavendish, Fabio Jakobsen, Caleb Ewan, Dylan Groenewegen and company fight it out. Big question: will Jumbo-Visma let Van Aert join in, or will he save his strength to support Jonas Vingegaard when the race enters the Pyrenees?
Philipson survives sprint scrutiny to win in Bayonne
Stage 3 report: Jasper Philipsen of Belgium, riding for the Alpecin-Deceuninck team, won the 193.5km third stage of the Tour after a hectic bunch sprint finish in Bayonne was painstakingly scrutinised by the race jury.
Stage four: Dax to Nagaro (181.8km)
Following yesterday’s win in Bayonne by the Belgian speed-merchant Jasper Philipsen, today marks another stage for the sprinters and what ought to be a quite a relaxing day for the peloton before tomorrow’s assault on the Pyrenees, a stage that could go some way towards separating the GC wheat from the chaff in the early part of this Tour.
A well beaten sixth yesterday, Astana sprinter Mark Cavendish remains tied on 34 career Tour de France stage wins with the great Eddy Merckx and needs one more to make the record his own. It is unlikely to come easy because at 38 years old the Manx rider isn’t as young or fast as he used to be and does not have the teammates to form a lead-out train of anywhere near the high standard of those that helped him to so many successes in this race in the past. Cavendish remains hopeful, however, and will have earmarked today’s flat terrain as being ideal.
For the third consecutive day, Adam Yates will begin the stage in the yellow jersey and barring accident or illness, it seems inconceviable it could be wrestled from his shoulders on a day when GC contenders will be keeping their powder dry for more testing challenges ahead.
Yates’s UAE Emirates team leader Tadej Pogacar is in the white kersey for best young rider, while Cofidis rider Victor Lafay wears the green jersey for leading the poinbts classification. American rider Neilson Powless remains in the polka-dot jersey for King of the Mountains and is guaranteed to hold on to it until close of play tomorrow at least. The riders roll out of Dax at 12.10pm (BST) and we’ll be with them every kilometre of the way.
