Stage 4: Le Touquet-Paris-Plage › Lille – 163.5 km
The Tour de France closed out its visit to England in style, with a sprint finale on The Mall won, somewhat predictably, by Marcel Kittel. Now, the Tour heads home to France. While the locale maybe changing, the profile is staying mostly the same for Stage 4; another flat stage is on tap. Two Cat. 4 climbs, one early in the day and one coming with more than 40 km remaining, are the only categorized uphill challenges on the menu. It is more than likely that the 163.5 km Stage 4 will be another for the sprinters.
Marcel Kittel remains the class of the sprinting bunch. It’s hard for anyone to come close to the young German star, given his deadly combination of being the fastest rider here and having the best leadout train in the race. He won the Tour’s third stage easily and he will be the favorite again for what looks to be an uncomplicated Stage 4.
Lotto Belisol’s Andre Greipel was out of position in the Stage 3 finale and, therefore, we still haven’t really had an opportunity to see him matched up against compatriot Kittel at the finish line. Lotto does have a very good leadout but they have not been in the best position when it’s really mattered in the two sprint stages the Tour has offered so far. I still see Greipel as Kittel’s main challenger, though, and if he and his team can get it right for Stage 4, Kittel may actually have some competition on his hands.
Peter Sagan remains my third favorite for the sprints. For whatever reason, a number of observers feel the need to point out on every flat stage that pure sprints aren’t really his thing, which is far from the truth. He may not have the top speed of Kittel or Greipel, but behind those two riders, he is probably the best sprinter here, with plenty of victories on pan flat stages in his career. His versatility seems to make people forget that he is, in fact, elite in the bunch sprints, extremely fast and also adept at positioning himself. Those abilities have allowed him to come in 2nd to Kittel on two of the three stages in this race so far; he was right behind Kittel but well ahead of everyone else in London. Should his German rivals hit misfortune or find themselves out of position, Sagan will have a great opportunity to take a win on Stage 4.
Europcar’s Bryan Coquard now has a pair of 4th places to his name in this Tour de France. He still needs to improve his positioning and he does not have a lot of leadout support, but he is finally starting to deliver on the promise he has been showing at the lower levels.
FDJ’s Arnaud Demare is a very talented sprinter but he is apparently suffering from wrist pain. If he can get back to 100%, he’ll be a top contender again. For all his success this year, Alexander Kristoff has hit misfortune surprisingly often. He was slowed by the crash on Stage 1 and had to expend energy in the third stage to overcome a late mechanical. He has the speed to be considered a strong challenger in the sprints when things go right for him. Mark Renshaw was a very impressive 3rd on The Mall, taking advantage of a rare opportunity to sprint for himself. He benefits from the strong OPQS leadout and should continue to put up nice results on the flat days. Trek’s Danny van Poppel, IAM Cycling’s Heinrich Haussler, and Movistar’s JJ Rojas will again hope to play spoiler to the bigger favorites, and Giant-Shimano’s John Degenkolb remains an excellent alternative for his team in the event that Kittel hits trouble along the way to the finish.
VeloHuman Stage Favorites
1. Marcel Kittel | 2. Andre Greipel | 3. Peter Sagan
Be sure follow @VeloHuman on Twitter for live commentary on this and every stage of the 2014 Tour de France! The next preview will be up soon after the conclusion of Stage 4, so stay tuned. In case you missed it, the overall Tour de France preview can be found here.
-Dane Cash
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