Tour de France Stage 4 Preview: Expect Another Exciting Sprint Finish
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Stage 4 - Dax to Nogaro (181.8km) - Tuesday, July 4
Stage 4 of the 2023 Tour de France should offer another opportunity for the sprinters to take center stage. The day begins in Dax, not far from the home of French legend Andre Derrigarde, who won 22 stages at the Tour between 1953 and 1964.
It’s a pretty straightforward stage with a lumpy profile but only one categorized climb (the Category 4 Côte de Dému) coming with about 27.4km to go. It could shed a few sprinters if they haven’t recovered well enough from the Tour’s first three stages, but given how few chances they have this week, we think their teams will do whatever it takes to keep them in the leading peloton.
The finish takes place outside of Nogaro on the Circuit Paul Armagnac, a motorsport track outside the town. The riders will complete about half of the circuit inside the final 3km, with several wide sweeping corners as the race winds its way around the circuit and toward the finish line. Things could get dicey, as teams aren’t as used to racing on circuits like these–as much as the track is designed for racing it’s high speeds, it’s not something the riders themselves are accustomed to.
It’s the Fourth of July, but with two hard days in the Pyrenees up next, we don’t expect any changes on the Tour’s General Classification, with Great Britain’s Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) most likely enjoying another trouble-free day in yellow. Instead, the real fireworks should come at the finish, as the Tour’s fast men look to make the most of one of only a handful of days for sprinters in this year’s Tour.
The weather shouldn’t pose any issues for the riders, with cloudy skies and warm temperatures expected throughout the day.
Riders to watch
This is the last chance for Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish (Astana) to break the record for the most stage wins in Tour history before the race heads into the Pyrenees. He’ll have the usual suspects to contend with including Belgium’s Stage 3 Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Dutchman Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-Quick Step) and Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco AlUla), and Australia’s Caleb Ewan (Destny Lotto). Belgium’s Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) will continue his attempt to try and win a stage, but he might find it hard on such a flat finish.
When to Watch
It’s a holiday, so feel free to tune-in late while prepping for your afternoon festivities. If you’ve got the time you can tune-in around 10:25 a.m. EDT to see the riders tackle the Category 4 Côte de Dému and the run-in to the finish in Nogaro. But if that’s too much of a commitment, tune-in as late as you can: the stage is expected to finish around 11:20 a.m. EDT.
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