This Tuesday, the riders of Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux contested the fourth stage of the Tour de France, the first one on French soil. United around Norwegian rider Alexander Kristoff, they once more guided him in an excellent position to the last straight line. He sprinted for second place behind yellow jersey Wout Van Aert, who went solo on the last climb.
This Côte du cap Blanc-Nez, the ultimate categorized difficulty in this stage between Dunkirk and Calais, caused splits in the peloton following a brutal acceleration. Alexander Kristoff managed to hang on and could then rely on the help of Georg Zimmermann, Sven Erik Bystrøm and Andrea Pasqualon to launch him. On the day of his 35th birthday, the Norwegian rider finished third in the peloton or fourth in the stage.
« My teammates offered me a nice birthday. They were great, and thanks to Sven Erik Bystrøm and Andrea Pasqualon I was the sprinter with the best lead out in the final kilometer. Thanks to their efforts, I managed to launch the sprint first just before the sign of the final 200 meter. Maybe I was a little too eager, but I wanted to make sure that I preceded the fastest competitors such as Jasper Philipsen. In the end I was only overtaken by two riders, which is satisfying. The fatigue will progressively start to influence the bodies of the sprinters, which means that more opportunities will come for us. Collectively we can build on this performance for the next days. »
