Van Aert wins Tour stage 4 in style and extends overall lead
CALAIS, France (AP) — Belgian rider Wout van Aert gained the hilly fourth stage of the Tour de France and prolonged his general lead after attacking strongly on the day’s last climb on Tuesday.
The Belgian rider saved the chief’s yellow jersey for the Jumbo–Visma crew after taking it for the primary time on Saturday. He additionally prolonged his lead within the inexperienced jersey contest for greatest sprinter.
Van Aert shook up the peloton when he surged forward up the final of the 5 climbs — a 900-meter ascent up Cote du Cap Blanc-Nez at a gradient of seven.5 pre cent — about 10 kilometres from the tip.
He mentioned he felt an early assault was the easiest way to keep away from a mass dash on the line.
“I didn’t need to take the chance of dropping anymore. It was fairly apparent that we have been attempting one thing with the crew,“ he mentioned. “I went full fuel to see what would occur. I went all out.”
The 27-year-old Van Aert is taken into account the most effective multi-skilled riders on the earth and is a former three-time cyclo-cross world champion and a one-day classics specialist.
The Jumbo-Visma rider flapped his fingers like a chicken’s wings as he sat up on his bike. He crossed the road eight seconds away from countryman Jasper Philipsen of the Alpecin–Fenix crew, with Jumbo-Visma teammate Christophe Laporte taking third place in a dash end.
“This jersey provides wings. It was undoubtedly a tricky climb however this stage was very probably going to finish up in bunch dash,” Van Aert mentioned. “It was tough to complete alone, however because of the work of my teammates, I did it. It was as much as me to complete it off.”
Van Aert picked up a 10-second time bonus and is now 25 seconds forward of Yves Lampaert within the general standings and 32 seconds away from two-time defending champion Tadej Pogacar.
Pogacar’s rival Primoz Roglic, the 2020 Tour runner-up and Van Aert’s teammate, stayed seventh general and remained 9 seconds behind Pogacar, with each ending in the principle pack.
Hugo Houle of Sainte-Perpétue, Que., was the highest Canadian within the fourth stage. The Israel-Premier Tech rider completed twenty fourth on Tuesday and moved to 61st general, one minute 51 seconds behind van Aert.
Ottawa’s Michael Woods, Houle’s Israel-Premier Tech teammate, was 111th Tuesday and 92nd general.
Guillaume Boivin, (Montreal, Israel-Premier Tech) was 148th within the stage and 154th general, whereas Antoine Duchesne (Saguenay, Que., Groupama FDJ) was 149th within the stage and 161st general.
After a journey day, riders tackled a sunny 171.5-kilometre route from the coastal metropolis of Dunkirk to Calais, the place riders may see the English shoreline after they arrived into the much-used port location. Van Aert accomplished it in 4 hours, 1 minute, 36 seconds.
Danish rider Magnus Cort, who thrilled crowds along with his breakaway rides throughout three intense days in Denmark, was once more within the early breakaway — this time alongside Anthony Perez.
Perez pulled forward some 45 kilometres out and Cort was caught by the peloton shortly after. Cort picked up extra factors within the polka-dot jersey bid however way more tough climbs within the Alps and Pyrenees are nonetheless to return.
Wednesday’s fifth stage is a flat stage for sprinters over 157 kilometres beginning at Lille Metropole and going over among the feared cobblestones that function on the Paris-Roubaix one-day basic.
The race ends on July 24 in Paris.
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