The cobbles that featured in the fourth stage of the Tour de France caused splits in the peloton, and Cannondale-Garmin’s Andrew Talansky made the front group selection. Only 34 riders came into the finish in Cambrai as part of the yellow jersey group that hit the line three seconds behind stage winner and new race leader Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep).

“On a stage like today, the team is more important than almost any other day, especially for someone like me – my strengths are the time trial and the mountains,” said Talansky. “I needed my team today to make sure I was in all the right places.”

“Thankfully everything went nearly perfectly for me,” Talansky added. “Every team member contributed to making that happen. I can’t thank them enough.”

Talanky’s ability to ride over the final six sectors of cobbles with the Classics specialists and select general classification contenders was likely given a boost by his course recon back in April. The day following Paris-Roubaix, Talanksy previewed the final 45 kilometers of stage four alongside teammate Jack Bauer.

Cannondale-Garmin rode a strong race, fully committed to the team plan. Although Bauer and Dan Martin were involved in a crash in the build-up to the critical six sector of pavé, the team stayed attentive, focused and calm.

“As expected, there was a lot of chaos today,” said sport director Andreas Klier. “The first cobble section went very well.”

“There was another key point at 170km,” Klier continued. “That’s where Dan and Jack crashed – but we were able to react to that, and from there, we never had any problems to keep Andrew in the front group.”

“Koren and Navardauskas did a great job for Andrew,” Klier added. “Ramunas did a great final pull to put Andrew into position in the finale. It was great teamwork by all today, in whatever group they finished.”

Beyond the cobble sectors, ten kilometres remained between Talanksy and the finish.

“I had maybe a fleeting moment of relief, but we were still racing full gas,” Talansky said. “I had to switched on for sure.”