Le Tour 2014 – Stage 4

Le Touquet-Paris-Plage – Lille Métropole

Distance: 163.5 kilometers.

Marcel Kittel has now won three of the four stages, but still trails the Yellow Jersey by almost 20 minutes. In the battle for Yellow Froome and Contador have swapped places in the standings – Froome down to 7 and Contador up to 5.

Today’s stage was another for sprinters as the Tour honors the centennial of World War I by running through many of the battlefields of that war. Today was across ‘Flanders fields’.

Vincenzo Nibali ( Ita – AST – 041 ) [Yellow] 17h 07′ 52″
Peter Sagan ( Svk – CAN – 051 ) [Green] 158 points
Cyril Lemoine ( Fra – COF – 174 ) [Polka Dot] 6 points
Peter Sagan ( Svk – CAN – 051 ) 2 [White]

Team: Sky ( SKY – 001-009 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Marcel Kittel ( Ger – GIA – 101 )
Combative: Thomas Voeckler ( Fra – EUC – 159 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Vincenzo Nibali ( Ita – AST – 041 ) 17h 07′ 52″
2 Peter Sagan ( Svk – CAN – 051 ) + 00′ 02″
3 Michael Albasini ( Sui – OGE – 182 ) + 00′ 02″
4 Greg Van Avermaet ( Bel – BMC – 148 ) + 00′ 02″
5 Alberto Contador ( Esp – TCS – 031 ) + 00′ 02″
6 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte ( Esp – MOV – 011 ) + 00′ 02″
7 Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 ) + 00′ 02″
8 Jurgen Van Den Broeck ( Bel – LTB – 131 ) + 00′ 02″
9 Bauke Mollema ( Ned – BEL – 061 ) + 00′ 02″
10 Jakob Fuglsang ( Den – AST – 042 ) + 00′ 02″

The Rest of the Top 30:

11 Romain Bardet ( Fra – ALM – 082 ) + 00′ 02″
12 Tejay Van Garderen ( US – BMC – 141 ) + 00′ 02″
13 Tiago Machado ( Por – TNE – 206 ) + 00′ 02″
14 Jean-Christophe Péraud ( Fra – ALM – 081 ) + 00′ 02″
15 Alberto Costa Rui ( Por – LAM – 111 ) + 00′ 02″
16 Mikel Nieve Iturralde ( Esp – SKY – 005 ) + 00′ 02″
17 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre ( Esp – TFR – 169 ) + 00′ 02″
18 Richie Porte ( Aus – SKY – 007 ) + 00′ 02″
19 Michal Kwiatkowski ( Pol – OPQ – 074 ) + 00′ 02″
20 Tony Gallopin ( Fra – LTB – 134 ) + 00′ 02″
21 Andrew Talansky ( US – GRS – 091 ) + 00′ 02″
22 Geraint Thomas ( GB – SKY – 008 ) + 00′ 16″
23 Mathias Frank ( Sui – IAM – 191 ) + 00′ 16″
24 Thibaut Pinot ( Fra – FDJ – 127 ) + 00′ 16″
25 Nicolas Roche ( Irl – TCS – 037 ) + 00′ 16″
26 Tanel Kangert ( Est – AST – 046 ) + 00′ 16″
27 Tom Dumoulin ( Ned – GIA – 106 ) + 00′ 16″
28 Christopher Horner ( US – LAM – 114 ) + 00′ 16″
29 Laurens Ten Dam ( Ned – BEL – 067 ) + 00′ 16″
30 Yury Trofimov ( Rus – KAT – 029 ) + 00′ 16″

Did not start:

Andy Schleck ( Lux – TFR – 166 )

Did not finish:

Gregory Henderson ( NZ – LTB – 137 )

Note: Wikipedia has a simple article on the Mountain classification used on the Tour. The basic fact is that climbs fall into five types, with the four numbered types decreasing in difficulty as the numbers get larger, and then there is the Hors Catégorie, literally “without category”, which generally makes you look for an elevator or Sherpas.

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