Alexander Kristoff was agonizingly close to his first ever Tour de France stage victory when he was caught by Marcel Kittel just metres before the line in today's fourth stage. Despite being disappointed by the near-miss, the Norwegian was encouraged by the strong teamwork that had brought him into a great position.

Team Katusha’s Alexander Kristoff has been in the hunt every sprint stage in the 2014 Tour de France, taking a better placing every day, including today. Kristoff came off the wheels of teammates Luca Paolini and Aleksandr Porsev and opened up his sprint early to almost claim the victory, just missing the win by less than a wheel width.

"Today I was really close to the win. The team was super. Luca did a great job until the final km and after that Alex (Porsev) was really unbelievable, he did excellent work in the final km. I think with such a great speed he could have finished high for himself. I went in front with 350-400 meters to go. I saw I had a small gap, so I did my absolute best. Maybe it was a little bit early, but anyway it was a good try today. Kittel was simply stronger. But I will keep trying in the next days! I know it is possible, so I am looking forward," Alexander Kristoff.

Stage 4 at 163,5 km began in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage and ended in the downtown area of Lille Métropole with a mass sprint. Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) took his third stage win just ahead of Alex Kristoff, followed by Arnaud Demare (FdJ) in third place. 

"We had a plan to put Alex (Kristoff) just behind Luca and I stayed just behind both, to save energy for the final kilometer. Luca did a perfect job and when we entered the final km I went in front to lead out Alexander. I did 100% so I could to put him in the best position. He missed just by a little, but I think it was good tactics and good team work. We will try again," added Russian national champion,Aleksandr Porsev.

"We were very close for success and we saw that is possible to fight for a victory. The team did a perfect job today and the strategy was almost ideal. Alex was in front and he did what he could. We saw today we are on the right path. Alex is progressing every day. He was 7th on stage 1 with a crash, then he was 5th on stage 3 and now he is second. I hope in next days we will meet our goal," said team director José Azevedo.

Because of the group sprint there were no changes in the general classification with Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) still in yellow for a third day. Rounding out the GC are Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and Michael Albasini of Orica GreenEdge at 2-seconds. 

Tomorrow’s stage 5 is the long-awaited true cobblestone stage of the 101st Tour de France. While cobbled sections have been featured in other years, this is a true cobblestone stage resembling the Spring classics of France and Belgium. Many riders in this Grand Tour will be unfamiliar with the bone-jarring sectors of French pavé. At 155,5 km the race begins in Ypres and ends in Arenberg Porte du Hainaut. It includes nine sectors of cobbles totaling 15,4 km near the end of the course and promises to be a mini version of Paris-Roubaix.