Primoz Roglic shows Dominance and Wins First Uphill Mountain Finish on Stage 4
Team Jumbo Visma showed everyone they were the team to beat as race favorite Primoz Roglic sprinted to stage victory ahead of Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis)
Stage four was the first hilly excursion through the Dévoluy mountains, with the final climb to Orcières-Merlette, 1,825 metres high, a hairpin-laden, 7.1km final ascent with an average gradient of 6.7 per cent.
With 10 kms to go Jumbo-Visma's workhorses Wout Van Aert and Sepp Kuss set such a high pace no one could attack.
Wout Van Aert deciminated the peloton with around 20 riders left in contention with around 3 kms to go, behind favorites Tadej Pogacar, Nairo Quintana, Egan Bernal, Thibaut Pinot, Mikel Landa and Adam Yates followed.
After Wout Van Aert pulled over, American Sepp Kuss took over and increased pace.
In the final kilometre Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) attacked, and Roglic immediately responded, behind Pogacar, Quintana, Alaphilippe, Lopez and Pinot followed, while an isolated Egan Bernal looked around, and lost several places, clearly on his limit.
Roglic counter attacked and fellow Slovenian Pogacar followed with Martin third, Quintana, Alaphilippe and Lopez overhauling Bernal.
VIDEO:2020 Tour de France Stage 4 Highlights
2020 Tour de France Stage 4 Top 10
1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 4:07:47
2 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
3 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis
4 Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
5 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep
6 Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (Col) Astana Pro Team
7 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers
8 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
9 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Bahrain McLaren
10 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
2020 Tour de France GC after stage 4
1 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep 18:07:04
2 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:04
3 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:07
4 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:11
5 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis 0:00:13
6 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:17
7 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
8 Esteban Chaves (Col) Mitchelton-Scott
9 Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
10 Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (Col) Astana Pro Team
Leader’s jersey Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quickstep)
Points jersey Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe)
King of the Mountains Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R la Mondiale)
Best Young Rider Tadej Pogacar (UAE-Team Emirates)
Most Combativity of the Stage: Guillaume Martin (Cofidis)