Italian Powerhouse Elia Viviani wins Stage 4 Sprint Finale after Perfect Leadout

The Italian Champion scored a Tour de France stage win after a perfect leadout from his QuickStep team

It was long, hot day for the peloton, one of the longest stages of 215km from Reims to Nancy.

Three riders; Michael Schär (CCC Team), Frederik Backaert( Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team), and Yoann Offredo (Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team) established the days break away and built up a lead of over 3 minutes.

The sprinters teams kept the break in check, not letting it get too far ahead, as the final 20 kms included a fourth category climb of the Cote de Maron, 3.2 km at 5%, before a straight run into Nancy.

There was a minor crash including Pierre-Luc Perrison and another rider from Cofidis hit a central reservation, all OK.

With 67 kms to go, the 3 breakaway leaders contest the sprint points, Yoann Offredo (Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team) took maximum points.

The sprinters also contested the intermediate sprint for the remaining points, Viviani beat Cobrelli and Sagan.

With 29 kms to go, the three breakaway leaders had just 32 seconds and were swallowed up before the fourth category climb the Cote de Maron, 3.2 km at 5% with 20 kms to go.

Team Sunweb kept the pace high but the main contenders and their teams stayed together for the inevitable bunch sprint.

In the finale, Viviani got a great lead out and came off his train and sprinted clear of Kristoff, Ewan and Peter Sagan to win the fourth stage.

A good day for QuickStep with Allaphilippe still in the Yellow Jersey.

No change in the GC with Kruijswijk, Bennett, Bernal, Thomas and Enric Mas all in the top 10.

Tomorrow's fifth stage Stage 5 from Saint-Dié-des-Vosges to Colmar is 169 kms, is a nasty lumpy day with four categorized climbs.

The riders will be focused on their form as they take on the first real climbs of the Tour, like the Côte des Trois-Épis.

A terrain mostly suited to strong breakaway experts, especially in the final two climbs.

The GC riders will be protected as they will not want to lose any time, the last two climbs got be animated.

VIDEO: 2019 Tour de France Stage 4 Highlights

2019 Tour de France Stage 4 Top 10

1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
2 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
3 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal
4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
5 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
6 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
7 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Dimension Data
8 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
9 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
10 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis Solutions Credits

2019 Tour de France GC after Stage 4 

1 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 14:41:39
2 Wout Van Aert (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:20
3 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:25
4 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma
5 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:40
6 Egan Bernal (Col) Team Ineos
7 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos 0:00:45
8 Enric Mas (Spa) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:46
9 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) CCC Team 0:00:51
10 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb