Tour de France stage 4 – Roglic wins first mountain final – Hirschi loses time – sport

• The Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) has the best stages at the mountain finish in Orcières-Merlette and wins the 4th stage.
• Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quickstep) defends the «Maillot jaune».
• Marc Hirschi (Sunweb) cannot keep up with the best and has to give up the white jersey.

In the fourth stage of the Tour de France, the favorites had to show their form for the first time. Primoz Roglic was convincing. The 30-year-old Slovenian was placed in an optimal position by his Jumbo-Visma team and raced over the competition on the last climb. The preparatory work of Wout Van Aert was decisive. The Belgian picked up the pace in the final kilometers and was a turning point.

Julian Alaphilippe will also take to Wednesday’s stage wearing the leader’s jersey. The Frenchman stayed on top until the end and, apart from the extra seconds for the stage win for Roglic, wasted no time.

Hirschi loses the white shirt

Marc Hirschi couldn’t keep up with the favorites on the final climb to 1,825 meters. The 22-year-old Bernese lost 38 seconds to the winner and had to hand over the shirt of the best young professional to the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Abu Dhabi).

Escape group does not pass

As in the first 3 stages, an escape group had formed from the beginning. At times, the peloton was up to 4 minutes behind the 6 outliers, all of them without opportunities in the general classification. But over the course of the race, the teams of the favorites increased the pace more and more and with Krists Neilands (Israel Start-Up Nation) they put the last driver 7 kilometers before the end. The jury recognized the performance of the 26-year-old Latvian by choosing the most combative rider of the day.

So it goes

After the first mountain finish, there is another stage from Gap to Pivas on Wednesday (3:00 pm live at SRF Zwei) for the sprinters. At the end of the 183 kilometers there will be a final sprint, where the specialists will probably ensure victory. The slightly uphill final straight will pose difficulties for the drivers.