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Key events
Remco Evenepoel: The stage favourite passes the first checkpoint four seconds quicker than our leader, Affini.
Primoz Roglic: The five-times Grand Tour winner (Vueltas x 4 and a Giro) is well off the pace out on the road and was almost 30 seconds down on the best time posted at the first timecheck thus far. The last of the riders are cycling into a strong headwind, which is excellent news for our clubhouse leader Edoardo Affini. In fifth place on GC and wearing the white jersey, Kevin Vauquelin is next down the ramp of the starting hut.
An email: “Some pundits get overly reminiscent as they get older but Sean Kelly is still top of his game, up to date on tech, riders and tactics, and deadpan in his delivery of his more outlandish cycling prizes,” writes Matthew Lysaght. “Long may he remain on the mic.”
Joao Almeida: The Team Emirates-XRG rider from Portugal sets off.
Remco Evenepoel is away …
Now we’re sucking diesel – the white-hot odds-on favourite for this stage from the Soudal-Quick Step team sets off like a bat out of hell.
Edoardo Affini: We’re finally getting to that point of the stage where the Italian will be getting twitchy in that leader’s throne of his. The faint hope that his time might actually be good enough to win this ITT, clouded by the near certainty that it almost certainly won’t be because the Big Boys have yet to start. Primoz Roglic is next to go …
An email: “The short answer to Mark from Florida’s question about team cars following each rider is: no,” writes Ailsa. “Riders further down the rankings can sometimes end up with a publicity-caravan vehicle instead. I’m not sure how the cyclist’s performance is affected by having a motorised saucisson in their wake, but I’d love to know.”
Happy birthday Harry Sweeney: The Aussie EF Education-EasyPost rider, whose 27th birthday it is today, finishes almost four minutes down on our leader Eoardo Affini. We’re down to the last 16 riders, who will start at two-minute intervals.
An email: Ted Raney writes: “I think it was the great Indian pundit Gaurav Modgil who observed that the reason Europeans never took to cricket was that if they needed a sport which took days, where very little happened and that allowed them to doze on the sofa for hours listening to rambling commentary they already had cycling,” he says.
Wout van Aert: The Visma-Lease A Bike rider passes the first checkpoint 1min 47sec down on the best time so far.
An email: “Is there an official team car behind every cyclist?” asks Mark From Florida. “What with 20 or so cyclists on the ITT course at the same time, that would be a lot of official vehicles. Do teams ever run out of cars to follow their cyclists? One team could have like 4 cyclists on the road at one time.”
That is a very good question and one to which I do not have an answer. My educated guess is that if there’s a possibility a team can’t follow each of its riders, they’ll focus on the one they have highest hopes for and the “lesser” rider will have to rely on a floating official Tour de France race car and mechanic to deal with any issues. There don’t seem to have been too punctures or other mechanical issues this afternoon.
Sepp Cuss: The latest Visma-Lease A Bike rider to take his turn sets off, which means there are just 32 riders left to take to the course.
The provisional top five on stage five
1. Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a Bike): 37min 15’sec
2. Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale): +2sec
3. Ivan Romeo (Movistar): +29sec
4. Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla): +44sec
5. Pablo Castrillo (Movistar): +45sec
Wout is out! Wout van Aert rolls down the starting ramp and is away. Even in these very early stages, you can tell he’s taking it handy and not going for victory in this stage. He came into this race on the back of an illness that ruled him out of the Belgian Championship and is probably using today as a recovery day.
TNT Sports: With the big guns yet to get going, they’re pasing the time as best they can on the network’s commentary. Race analyst Sean Kelly has just recounted the time he won a spot prize of a live cow in a criterium he was competing in after the Tour de France back in the day. Living in Belgium at the time, he tells commentator Carton Kirby that he opted to have it killed, butchered, freezer-wrapped and sent to his home, so that he and his pals could dine like kings. I’m not sure that was the happy ending to the story that Kirby was hoping for.
Julian Alaphilippe: The Frenchman rolls over the finish line over three minutes down on the leading time of 37min 15sec after a leisurely trip around the circuit. Tobias Foss won’t be unseating stage leader Edoardo Affini from the Big Chair either. The Norwegian champion finishes almost 53 seconds off the pace.
Tadej Pogacar: The reigning Tour de France champion sets off on his race of truth at 3.58pm (BST) and will be seeking to win his second consecutive stage in this year’s race. Following his win yesterday, he was in an understandably good mood.
“I couldn’t dream for a better finish than today’s,” he said. “To beat one of the best of the world in road cycling, especially in this kind of finishes and to reach [career] 100 victories in the Tour de France with the rainbow jersey, it’s incredible.
“The plan was to go full on this climb. I didn’t know exactly how long it would be so maybe I could have put in a little bit more towards the top but I think Jonas [Vingegaard] would have been with me anyway. I expected him to follow. In a way, it was perfect, because everyone’s legs were tired and the next attacks were not as strong as they would have been.
“Joao [Almeida] did an amazing job to lead me out until the very end. I’m super happy and proud with the team. With so many good riders in such a finale, you’re always a bit on the edge, you never know what’s gonna happen. It gives you adrenaline, it’s beautiful racing and I enjoy it. Tomorrow is the real test. It’s about having the legs. It’s not Formula 1, it’s cycling, and you need the legs to push.”
Tobias Foss: The Ineos Grenadiers rider, a World Champion at this discipline three years ago, is out on the course wearing the Norwegian national team jersey.
Normandy American Cemetery: Today’s stage takes place near the Normandy American Cemetry, which contains the graves of nearly 9,400 war dead and nearly 1,600 names on the Walls of the Missing. It overlooks Omaha Beach, where many of those interred in the cemetery lost their lives on D-Day.
An email: “Purely by chance, I was in Pisa in May when it hosted the finish of the Giro’s ITT,” writes Gary Naylor. “Apart from the usual Tuscan rain I always seem to catch, it was noticeable that the road surface was pretty ropey and looked scary even in the dry. I was also surprised that many riders pretty much coasted in, which made the ones going full gas (like Josh Tarling) look like they were on motorbikes. A minute or two on the road looks like a helluva lot more than that when the rider is a low barrier and four feet away at 45mph.”
Julian Alaphillipe: The mercurial Frenchman and Tudor Pro Cycling veteran rolls the ramp and is sent on his way by a raucous crowd who clearly adore him.
Bruno Armirail comes up just short!!! The clock turns red 2.47 seconds before the French ITT champion crosses the line. Edoardo Affini remains in the Big Chair and 37min 15sec is still the time to beat.
It’s been 18 years … This being my first foray into the live coverage of this year’s Tour, I am hidebound by tradition to post this video of the now retired German rider Marcus Burghardt crashing into a Labrador that was out on an Alpine stroll in 2007. Somewhat remarkably, both cyclist and dog emerged from the incident completely unscathed.
Bruno Amirail: The French champion is slowing down and posts a slower time than Affini at the second check. He is 18 seconds down on the Italian. Somewhat bizarrely, the Tour broadcasters don’t have TV cameras at the on-course checkpoints.
Bruno Armirail: The Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale rider is out on the course putting in a decent shift. He posted the best time at the first checkpoint and is about to hit the second one wearing the red, white and blue jersey that signifies he is the French national ITT champion. For the first time as far as I can remember, the AG2R La Mondiale riders are not wearing brown shorts. I have to say I’m not happy about it!
Ivan Romeo: Before vacating the leader’s Big Chair, the Movistar rider had this to say about today’s course and his performance: “It has been an exhausting ITT, really tough. I didn’t have a moment to breath, as I was the whole time on the saddle and pushing as much as possible.
“I’m happy with my performance, although not 100 per cent as I could have done a bit more – not today, but on my best day. In any case, perfection is hard to attain – if you do 50 ITTs you hardly get one completely right.
“This is a course for specialists. Remco is the best time-trialist in the world and it suits him super well. The GC guys are going to top the leaderboard at the end of the day.”
Edoardo Affini leads the stage: The Visma-Lease A Bike rider smithereens the time set by Ivan Romeo and the benchmark is now 37min 15sec. His average speed over the 33-kilometre course was 53.2km per hour.
Edoardo Affini: The Italian (Visma-Lease A Bike) rider is currently scorching up the course with his team leader Jonas Vingegaard on a reconaissance mission behind him in the team car. 37min 44sec is the time to beat and it looks like Edoardo might do it.
Kevin Vauquelin: Currently in the white jersey, in fifth place on General Classification, Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) will be riding around ther roads of his native Normandy today.
“There’s definitely a very high level, it’s going to be a great battle for the rest of the Tour,” he said after yesterday’s stage. “This is the biggest race in the world, everyone is at their best so I’m not surprised. I didn’t think I’d keep the white jersey. I’m really happy to have a distinctive jersey for tomorrow’s time trial, at home. I think it’s just pure joy. When I climbed onto the podium with the white jersey, I received a lot of encouragement. It’s just a dream.”
Edoardo Affini: The European ITT champion is out on the course and is currently second fastest after the first checkpoint, having split Ivan Romeo and Luke Plapp.
Two non-starters today: Emilien Jeanniere (Total Energies) has left the race with a fractured collarbone he suffered in a crash on stage three, while Jasper De Buyst (Lotto) woke up with a fever and has also abandoned on medical advice. Jeanniere also broke a tooth in his crash and had to ask a local dentist in Dunkirk to open his surgery out of hours so he could get that sorted out.
“I was quickly taken care of thanks to our team doctor, who lives in Dunkirk,” said the rider yesterday. “He arranged for a dentist, Dr Richard, to open his practice for me at 8pm and I’d like to publicly thank him. He fixed my tooth.”
Ivan Romeo leads. The Movistar rider, who is the World U23 ITT champion, crosses the finish line in 37min 44.94sec. Luke Plapp (Jayco Ulula) finishes at a more sedate pace, taking the last few corners far more cautiously than his Spanish rival, stops the clock at 37min 59.96sec. Romeo’s time should stand for a while.
The first rider is finished: Yevgeniy Fedorov (XDS Astana) is last on General Classificiation due in no small part to several crashes. The Kazakh rider finishes the course in a time of 42min 24.21sec. He was first down the ramp but not the first man to cross the finish line.
Luke Plapp The Australian Jayco Ulula rider reaches the second checkpoint 10 seconds quicker than Ivan Romeo.
An email: “Here roadside north-west of Caen in the countryside and its a perfect day for a white wedding and also an individual time trial,” writes Steve Horne. It’s hot but not too hot, a merest whisper of breeze and not a cloud in the sky so no chance of rain soaked roads for the later starters.”
Ivan Romeo: The 21-year-old Movistar rider stops the clock at the second checkpoint (16.4km) at 18min 50sec and remains the quickest rider out on the course.
Today’s course: Largely flat and not particularly technical, today’s course is fairly straightforward but has a very exposed stretch out in the countryside that could cause problems for riders if the wind whips up.
Today’s time checks: Ivan Romeo (Movistar) is the quickest rider past the first checkpoint by some distance thus far, travelling the first 8.2 kilometres in 9min 51sec. The next time check is at 16.4km and the third one is at 24.8km. Romeo has already passed the two riders who started in front of him.
An intriguing sub-plot: Still eligible for the best young rider (under-25) category, Remco Evenepoel is the odds-on favourite to win today’s stage but should the Belgian endure a rare bad day at the ITT office, there’s a decent chance Scotland’s very own Oscar Onley could take the white jersey.
Riding in only his second Tour de France, the 22-year-old from Perth is a highly commendable seventh overall on General Classification but is only 29 seconds behind Kevin Vauquelin, who is currently in possession of the garment and will have plenty of support as he rides today’s ITT on his home roads of Normandy. It’s a tall order but a big performance from Oscar (and a poor one from Remco) could see the Picnic PostNL rider wrestle the white jersey from the Frenchman’s shoulders.
An email: “Can you remind me please what Oscar Onley’s TTs are like?” asks Nick. “I know he’s a climber and so far an amazing GC top 10. Do you reckon he can hold that to Paris? Everything crossed.”
There’s a long way to go before Paris so it’s far too early to say if Oscar can stay in the top 10 but I read somewhere that his team’s plan is for him to hunt stage wins. To be honest, I don’t know much about his time-trialling prowess but he was part of the team that won the TTT during his first Grand Tour, the Vuelta, in 2023.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Yevgeniy Fedorov (XDS Astana) has rolled down the ramp and started putting the early stages of the course behind him. He’s followed 90 seconds later by Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies).
Remco Evenepoel: The last time the Belgian lost an Individual Time Trial was on the final stage of last year’s Tour, when he was beaten by the race winner Tadej Pogacar. He has since won the Olympic ITT, World Championship ITT and Belgian National ITT, among other races.
Ones to watch in today’s ITT
Currently in last place on General Classification, Yevgeniy Fedorov (XDS Astana) will be the first rider down the ramp at 12.10pm (BST) but here are a list of the main contenders for today’s stage and the times they are due to set off. Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease A Bike) could be the first rider to set a time that could prove hard to beat and he rolls out at 12.49pm. Of course there’s also every chance I have managed to omit the name of today’s winner from my list of contenders but we’ll find out in due course …
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12.49pm: Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease A Bike)
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2.58pm: Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike)
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3.36pm: Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe)
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3.44pm: Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step)
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3.54pm: Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease A Bike)
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3.56pm: Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike)
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3.58pm: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
General Classification after stage four
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1. Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 16hrs 46mins 00secs
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2. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) Same time
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3. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +8secs
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4. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +19secs
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5. Kevin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) +26secs
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6. Enric Mas (Spa-Movistar) +48secs
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7. Oscar Onley (GB/Picnic PostNL) +55secs
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8. Joao Almeida (Por/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) Same time
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9. Remco Evenepoel (Bel/Soudal Quick-Step) +58secs
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10. Mattias Skjelmose (Den/Lidl-Trek) +7secs
Pogacar secures century of wins in thrilling finish
Stage four report: Tadej Pogacar secured his 100th career win on stage four of the Tour de France, after the defending champion narrowly outsprinted the race leader Mathieu van der Poel just before the line. Jeremy Whittle reports from Rouen …
Stage five: Caen to Caen (33km Individual Time Trial)
From William Fotheringham’s stage-by-stage guide: The first decisive day in the battle for the overall, a relatively long time trial on the rolling bocage north-east of Caen, largely on wide main roads that will suit the most powerful riders in the field. The favourites need to at least limit any losses; the winner should be a pure rouleur.
In the preview he submitted before the race started, m’learned colleague Lord Fotheringham originally tipped Filippo Ganna for the stage win today having failed to foresee that the big Italian Ineos Grenadiers rider would be forced to abandon the race with a concussion after crashing during the first stage. The Swiss Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale rider Stefan Bissegger is another man who would have had his eye on victory today but he was also forced to abandon the race on the opening day.
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