After two big disappointments, Marcel Kittel (Etixx-QuickStep) finally got the elusive first victory at the Tour de France when he used his immense power to narrowly hold off Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie) in a brutal uphill sprint on stage 4. After a great lead-out from Maximilano Richeze, the German easily distanced Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) and then threw the bike to beat the fast-finishing Frenchman in a photo finish. Sagan finished third and extended his overall lead.

 

Going into the Tour de France, Marcel Kittel was the overwhelming favourite to win the power sprint on the first stage. However, a failed lead-out forced him to launch his sprint way too early and he had to settle for second behind Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data).

 

The disappointment turned into frustration and a bit of panic when another bad lead-out cost him the victory in yesterday’s second bunch kick where he could only manage seventh. Neither the German nor his Etixx-QuickStep team could hide that they were getting a bit desperate as the number of flat sprints were running out.

 

To make things even worse, the third sprint stage of the race was far from ideal for Kittel as there were several small climbs in the finale and an uphill finish of 500m at 5%. However, as he did in Paris-Nice a few years ago, the German proved that he masters uphill sprints too as he powered to an impressive victory in another photo finish, showing a feeling of immense relief when he was told that he had narrowly beaten a very fast Bryan Coquard.

 

Etixx-QuickStep showed confidence in Kittel as they helped in the chase to bring back a strong breakaway that was finally caught on a small climb with 7km to go. Unsurprisingly, Tinkoff and Orica-BikeExchange were trying to make things hard with Oscar Gatto, Roman Kreuziger and Michael Albasini and they made the group explode to pieces.

 

As they crested the summit, Kreuziger and Vasil Kiryienka (Sky) led their respective teams in each side of the road until Lotto Soudal moved up next to them. With Adam Hansen setting the pace, the Belgian team had lined out their train in support of André Greipel and they took complete control with 5km to go where Hansen led the team through a series of tricky turns.

 

There was a huge fight for position as Lotto Soudal briefly backed off and allowed Kreuziger and Gatto to hit the front for Tinkoff. While they rode on the front, their captain Alberto Contador nearly came down and he suddenly found himself at the very back of the field.

 

Lotto were gathered behind the Tinkoff riders and again took over with 2km to go where Marcel Sieberg hit the front with Greg Henderson, Jurgen Roelandts and Greipel on his wheel. Henderson was next to take a turn and he led the group under the flamme rouge.

 

This is where Etixx-QuickStep started to move up next to the Lotto riders who were passed by Mark Renshaw who took a short turn on the front. Then Jacopo Guarnieri did the lead-out for his Katusha captan Alexander Kristoff and Greipel and the Etixx train slotted into the position behind the Russian train.

 

Maximilano Richeze sprinted to the front but Kittel hesitated and didn’t follow his teammate. Instead, it was Kristoff who launched his trademark power sprint and then Kittel reacted. Sprinting next to Kristoff and race leader Peter Sagan, the German easily distanced his rivals and got a big gap.

 

He looked like he would take a comfortable win when Bryan Coquard suddenly came from behind. The Frenchman got closer and closer and seemed to come around but Kittel had an extra gear. Both sprinters threw their bikes across the line but no one dared to celebrate. It took a few minutes before Kittel was declared the winner while Sagan was a distant third.

 

However, that was enough to extend his overall lead over Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-QuickStep) to 12 seconds. He faces a much sterner test tomorrow in the first tough climbing stage of this year’s race. Stage 6 brings the riders into the hilly Massif Central where the riders will tackle several climbs in the finale. There’s an early category 4 climb and then flat roads lead to the second half where two category 3 climbs serve as a warm-up for two steep category 2 climbs. The final of those tops out just 14.5km from the finish and then there’s a 3.3km category 3 climb with an average gradient of 5.8%. The final 2.5km are slightly descending until the final 500m kick up at a gradient of 6%.

 

A lumpy stage

After yesterday’s sprint stage, the fast finishers were again expected to shine in the longest stage of the race which brought the riders over 237.5km from Sauvurs to Limoges. The first part was almost completely flat but then the terrain got much lumpier. There was only one category 4 climb with 55.5km to go but there were several uncategorized ascents in the hilly finale. The stage had a nasty sting in its tail as the final 500m were uphill at an average gradient of 5%.

 

Contrary to the predictions, it was cloudy – there were even a few raindrops – when the 198 riders gathered for the race's longest stage. Yesterday Armindo Fonseca attacked immediately from the start but he got no company and rode solo for more than 140 km. Today it was even more bizarre as there were no attacks during the first 13 kilometers. When four riders finally tried, the sprint teams reacted immdiately, and when the attempt was neutralized, the peloton again came to a standstill.

 

A strong group gets clear

Suddenly, the race came to life when Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff), Markel Irizar (Trek), Natnael Berhane (Dimension Data), Andreas Schillinger (Bora-Argon 18), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Julien Vermote (Etixx-QuickStep) and Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge) got a gap. Several riders tried to bridge across, including Jan Bakelants (Ag2r) and Jerome Cousin (Cofidis) whor formed a chase duo. Ramon Sinkeldam (Giant-Alpecin), Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal) and Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie) briefly made up a third group, but they were quickly caught.

 

The break had a lead of 30 seconds when Direct Energie started a chase that quickly brought Cousin and Bakelants back into the fold. Fortuneo-Vital Concept and LottoNL-Jumbo also came to the fore, and when Katusha also lend a hand, the gap started to come down. When it was down to 10 seconds, only Irizar and Schillinger pressed on but they were soon joined by Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r) and Oliver Naesen (IAM), meaning that a quartet had gathered in front.

 

The peloton slows down

It suited the peloton much better, and they let the four rider ride away. After 35km of racing, the gap was  1.35 and at the 44km mark, the break was already 4.45 ahead of the peloton that covered 44.5km during a fast first hour.

 

When the gap had reached 5.10, Tinkoff hit the front and stabilized it at around 5 minutes. They were quickly joined by Natnael Berhane (Dimension Data) who did most of the work to ensure that the lead was only 4.50 after the second hour where the average speed had dropped to 42.5 km/h.

 

Lotto Soudal come to the fore

The peloton took a small breather and despite the work by Berhane and Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff), the gap continued to grow and it reached a maximum of 6.20 as they entered the final 120km. This was the signal for Lotto Soudal to join forces with Dimension Data and Tinkoff and it was Lars Bak who came to the fore to do the early work.

 

Unlike yesterday, the riders were really racing and this forced the peloton to ride much harder. In fact, they passed the feed zone with such a speed that a small group briefly lost contact in the crosswind but they quickly closed the gap without panicking.

 

Etixx-QuickStep start to chase

Etixx-QuickStep started to chase with Vermote who cooperated with Bodnar, Berhane and Bak to reduce the gap to 4.05 with 100km to go. With a hilly finale, the peloton was keen not to let the gap be get too big and so they had reduced the advantage to just 2 minutes fifteen kilometres later.

 

Dimension Data added more firepower to the chase as Daniel Tejlehaimanot came to the fore but as the gap had dropped to 1.30 with 80km to go, he soon stopped his work. In fact, the peloton slowed a bit down and allowed the gap to go out to 2 minutes where it was kept stable as they approached the intermediate sprint.

 

Sagan wins the sprint

Only Schillinger was interested in the points and he was allowed to win the sprint ahead of Naesen, Irizar and Gougeard. There was a much bigger fight in the peloton where Etixx-QuickStep did a full lead-out for Marcel Kittel. However, Sagan surprised by doing a long sprint and as they all sprinted at 80%, the Slovakian won the battle, leading Kittel, Mark Cavendish and André Greipel across the line.

 

After the sprint, Bak and Berhane went back to work and kept the gap stable at 2 minutes until Vermote again joined them when they hit the only categorized climb of the stage. Here Irizar made a small acceleration to pick up the only KOM point to protect the mountains jersey of teammate Jasper Stuyven.

 

Gougeard is dropped

The peloton took absolutely no risk and Vermote, Berhane and Bak upped the pace significantly after the climb. As they entered the final 45km, the gap had already dropped to 1.10.

 

The uphill finale was tailor-made for Bryan Coquard so it was no surprise that his Direct Energie teammate Thomas Voeckler hit the front to work with Bak, Berhane and Vermote. He rode hard on the climbs and this forced the escapees to up the pace too. That was too much for Gougeard who was left behind on a small climb with 38km to go.

 

Katusha start to chase

The faster pace paid off as the gap went out from 50 seconds to 1.10 and the chase was losing momentum when Berhane disappeared from the front, leaving it to Vermote, Bak and Voeckler to lead the peloton. They were soon joined by Angel Vicioso (Katusha) who wanted to set Alexander Kristoff up for a sprint that suited him well.

 

The front trio worked well together to maintain an advantage of 45 seconds as they tackled the many small climbs in the hilly Limousin region. Meanwhile, the fight for position started as Movistar and BMC mixed it up with the sprint teams in the front end of the peloton and Gougeard was caught.

 

The break is caught

Entering the final 20km to go, the balance started to tip and the gap dropped to 20 seconds, with Bak, Vermote, Vicioso and Voeckler all taking massive turns. It was still 15 seconds five kilometres later where Voeckler ended his work.

 

With 10km to go, the escapees were still 15 seconds ahead of the peloton in which Astana and Movistar were sprinting on the front, making it difficult for Vicioso, Bak and Vermote to hold their position on the front.

 

However, Vicioso managed to stay up there and he led the peloton onto the small climb with 8km to go. Here Naesen give it a final go and while Schillinger fell back to the peloton, the Belgian and Irizar tried to keep the peloton at bay. However, Gatto moved to the front and brought it all back together with 7km to go, setting the scene for another bunch sprint.