And with that, I’ll sign off. Jeremy Whittle’s stage report will be up on the site very soon. And from me, thanks for reading and commenting. Bye.
Stage winner Marlen Reusser speaks:
“The team had a plan to make it a hard race and we just said attack and one of us would go and I was lucky it was me – we have our GC leaders and we always try to keep them there but also have an open-race strategy so everyone is allowed to win a stage. I’m really grateful and thankful to my team. I think in this tour it was the kind of stage that proved the kind of rider I am. It was hard with the gravel stages but for me not harder than the other stages.”
Vos retains yellow jersey
It was tetchy and difficult in that peloton, ahead of which Reusser reaped the rewards of her positivity, but the upshot of it all is that Vos remains well placed in the overall lead, also picking up some green jersey points. It was as demanding a stage of racing as we’ve seen, and some big-name riders took some blows so Vos will be pleased to have emerged unscathed. Vos has a 16 seconds over Persico with Niewiadoma third.
Updated
Ewers hits the front of the pursuing group but is overhauled by Amialisk who in turn is passed by Music, who takes second on the podium. Ewers is fourth. Just behind them, Vos comes through to lead the bunch sprint to take fifth place.
Marlen Reusser wins stage four of the Tour de France Femmes!
Reusser takes the stage win with ease, capping an impressive SD Worx team performance.
Updated
1km to go: Marlen Reusser is now in the streets of Bar-sur-Aube, a minute and 15 or so ahead, and a minute and 36 ahead of the yellow jersey group
3km to go: Lippert makes an attacking move from the pack, Persico follows, as does Vos, as the GC tussle intensifies. But no one’s eating into Reusser’s lead, which is still around 1:10 as she descends towards the finish. She also grabbed two QOM points just there, with Ewers taking one.
5km to go: Reuss begins the final ascent of this gruelling stage leading by around 1min 8sec, with Music, Amialiusik and Ewers still constituting the pursuing group.
GC💛 bonus seconds were on offer at the top of Côte de Begères and have been taken by 3 of the 4 riders who are currently ahead of the Peloton. @EF_TIBCO_SVB rider Veronica Ewers was fastest on the ascent averaging 25.3km/h as she bridged across to the pursuers #TDFF #TDFFdata pic.twitter.com/4Gs1fOhjpG
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 27, 2022
9km to go: We’re coming up to the intermediate sprit climb at the Cote des Bergères before the big descent to the last climb of the day. It’s gonna be a long nine kilometres. Reusser now leads by 41 seconds. The peloton is around a minute behind here, as Ewers joins a pursuing group of three with Musik and Amiallusik
Updated
11km to go: And now Garcia goes down again – clipping the car alongside her. She mercifully looks OK but, in racing terms, she’s had a comprehensively luckless day.
Elsewhere, Amiallusik has broken clear of the peloton, with Musik in pursuit, but Reusser still leads by around half a minute.
Updated
13.5km to go: There’s a group of about 11 high-class riders in the chasing pack behind Reusser, who can sense the stage win now as they descend. Her advantage is now approximately 30 seconds. In the chasing group, Borghini’s also back in the game .
17km to go: Vos, Persico and Niewiadoma are having a hell of a tussle out the front of the peloton now on a pretty treacherous stretch of gravel road. Poor old Van Vleuten has also suffered a puncture. It’s all happening.
Updated
18km to go: Niewiadoma leads an attack from the bunch – Vos, Garcia and Vollering kicking on with her as they approach the summit. Vos then has a slight stumble as she veers off the road before coming back strongly, and more woe for Garcia – a puncture this time – and she takes out Manly as she stops to change bikes.
Reusser still has a gap of around 25-30 seconds up the road though.
21km to go: And now Marlen Reusser of SD Worx breaks clear on her own at the front, forging an advantage of around 15 seconds. This is quite a performance from a rider who’s been incapacitated by Covid this season. Her teammate Vollering is prominent in the group behind them.
Still, a couple of climbs and a gravel section await them.
Updated
25.5km to go: Two QOM points for Mischa Bredewold ahead of Elise Chabbe, before Alena Amialiusik leads an attack from the pack. Next climb is the Cote de Vitry.
29km to go: Excellent work from the irrepressible Cecilie Ludwig, making up that lost ground and getting to within under 20 seconds of the pack. Misfortune for Niewiadoma, though, who suffers a puncture. The gravel sections are taking out of the riders just as predicted. But it’s set up a potential pulsating finish. There are about 20 in the lead group.
Chemin du plateau de Blu was the longest stretch of white road on today's stage. European Champion and World Hour Record holder @ellenvdijk drove the pace over the 4,400m stretch, averaging 26.9km/h #TDFF #TDFFdata pic.twitter.com/XLhsPNWKn8
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 27, 2022
Updated
33km to go: Right, so Grace Brown comes to the front, but seeks to steady the pace down to aid her FDJ Suez Futuroscope teammates. Then Van Dijk and Vollering nhit the front. And Vos is still among the lead group too. Margarita Garcia meanwhile also has to replace a wheel and endeavours furiously to rejoin the pack. This is a hell of a shakeout.
35km to go: Into the gravel dustbowl we go again, a headwind of 13km/h not helping, and SD Worx attack, led by Lotte Kopecky, as Demay is caught. Yesterday’s winner, Cecilie Ludwig, meanwhile has to replace a wheel. Vittoria Guazzini comes to her assistance.
Updated
39km to go: The peloton regroups with Damay’s lead now around 45 seconds as the third gravel section – one of 4.4km no less – looms as they ride into Essoyes.
44km to go: On to the next gravel sector, and visibility as well as mobility is impeded by the clouds of dust kicked up off the surface – and there looks to be a coming together, rather than a crash, of four bikes including Van Vleuten’s but they manage to unclip. The peloton’s fragmented considerably, with Ellen van Dijk out front. Demay is still out alone at the head of the course.
Updated
48km to go: Demey was dropped on the first climb, and Asencio can’t keep up with Demay on this one, and she takes the full QOM points and accelerates away on the downhill, establish an advantage of around 20 seconds. Behind them the South African Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio climbs strongly towards the front on what looks a devilish ascent.
Updated
50km to go: Back on to smoother roads for a bit, before another big climb, on the Cote de val des Clos, and the lead group’s gap on the yellow jersey group in the peloton stabilises at around 1:05. That group of three is now two, of Asencio and Demay with Demey having been dropped.
Updated
The Côte de Celles-sur-Ource points
⛰️ Côte de Celles-sur-Ource (Cat. 3) ⛰️
— Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) July 27, 2022
1️⃣ 🇫🇷Laura Asencio, 3 pts
2️⃣ 🇫🇷@DemayCoralie, 2 pts
3️⃣ 🇧🇪@valeriedemey, 1 pt#TDFF #WatchTheFemmes pic.twitter.com/OBFcAT3l8E
56km to go: Demey is losing ground on the other two breakaway riders, as Coralie Demay forges ahead and hits the summit first with Ascencio on her tail as they hit the first gravel phase. It’s dusty and bumpy alright. It’s a challenge to balance caution and aggression here.
The gap from leaders to peloton falls, as might be expected, to just over a minute. All sorts of battles going on there as Vollering accelerates at the front of the pack. Kasia Niewiadoma is also prominent.
Updated
59km to go: The leading group of Asencio, Demay and Demay go into the riders start their first climb with a lead whittled down to around 1:50 as the road narrows a touch and the peloton begins to get strung out; racing is beginning to look a lot more arduous. And look out or Elisa Longo Borghini, who has positioned herself well towards the front of the peloton
Updated
Valerie Demey takes the first intermediate sprint
64km to go: Demey, as part of the breakaway trio positioning themselves for the impending twisty gravel section, takes the full points in the sprint ahead of Asencio. That leading three have a gap of around 2:20 from the peloton. Vos picked up a handy nine points there.
Here’s the full details:
1. Demey, 25 pts
2. Asencio, 20 pts
3. Demay, 17 pts
4. Wiebes, 15 pts
5. Confalonieri, 13 pts
6. Kopecky, 11 pts
7. Georgi, 10 pts
8. Vos, 9 pts
9. Swinkels, 8 pts
10. Paladin, 7 pts
11. Korevaar, 6 pts
12. Amialiusik, 5 pts
13. Balsamo, 4 pts
14. Vollering, 3 pts
15. Van Dijk, 2 pts
Updated
73km to go: That three-rider breakaway now has more than two minutes on the peloton but it’s still very early days. Riders in the peloton bide their time for now, Vos just tucked in on its right-hand side towards the front with her Jumbo-Visma teammates.
Updated
82km to go: A more sustained break this time from Coralie Demay, Laura Asencio and Valerie Demey and they romp into a lead of 1:12. Vos had been in a brief group breakaway attempt behind them but she’s heavily marked and they’re reeled in. We’re about 11km from the first intermediate sprint and 20km from the first gravel section – prepare for mayhem.
Updated
89km to go: Fortin is still out in front riding towards the town of Vendeuvre-sur-Barse, but the peloton are only 12-15 seconds behind.
Some broadcasting discussion: “Regarding the coverage from Eurosport,” writes Alan Amos, “is it not that ASO are only sending from the middle of the race onwards and nothing to do with Eurosport, who are only doing a lousy job of communicating ? Other channels, such as France 2 were reported on this site, to be in the same situation.”
Paul Griffin, meanwhile, just wants to let rip: “Be grateful Eurosport is showing any cycling at all. It’s not impossible to tune in for the climax of the Tour of Flanders or Milan-San Remo and be confronted by The World 12-Ball Theoretical Billiards Mega Open from Phoenix; the quarter finals of the prestigious Uruguayan Meta-Badminton Open elimination round from Montevideo, or worse, one of those compilations of ski jumpers crashing to a soundtrack of what appears to be Can playing the Benny Hill theme on a kazoo. Upside: no one in the European landmass that has a better grasp the tactics of Meta-Badminton than I.” Gauntlet laid down there.
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95km to go: And no sooner do I bash out that list than the attackers are caught before the French rider Valentin Fortin of Cofidis goes it alone out front, with a gap of around 15 seconds.
Updated
That early breakaway in full: Balsamo; Majerus, Reusser, Le Net, Henderson, Markus; Georgi, Koch Cromwell, Boogaard, Manly, Lach, Gasparrini, Alzini, Korevaar, Cant, Schweinberger, Vandenbulck, Bredewold, Borgstrom, Allin, Leth, Buijsman. None of the leading GC contenders have gone with them
104km to go: A first flurry of movement sees a brief breakaway of three riders – Martina Alzini (Cofidis), Thalita De Jong (Liv Racing Xstra) and Marta Lach – but the peloton caught them within a few km. Before a more meaningful move from a group of 23 riders, who’ve opened up a gap of around 10-15 seconds.
118km to go: Nothing major to report so far – eight km and no breaks yet; the peloton is still altogether. Eurosport, meanwhile, is currently doing that slightly maddening thing of still chewing over yesterday’s highlights rather than showing today’s early live stuff. It does though give us a chance to enjoy Ludwig’s happy-sweary emotional interview after her stage win yesterday.
Some more detail on today’s much-discussed gravel sections – the first greets the riders at 68.1km, the second at 77.4, then one at 89 and the fourth at 106km. And racing is under way.
🚩 The riders have gone past km 0, stage 4 is on!
— Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) July 27, 2022
🚩 Le peloton a passé le km 0, la 4ème étape est lancée !#TDFF #WatchTheFemmes pic.twitter.com/Z6WqrUoJ5a
Updated
A bit of good news: all 131 of yesterday’s participants are good to go again today. There have been no withdrawals
It’s a manageably warm 25 degrees in the attractive town centre of Troyes as the riders begin on their way – they’ll be doing a 6.9km parade through Troyes to get us going. A mere 126.8km to go …
Updated
How they stand:
A reminder of the GC standings after stage three
1 Marianne Vos (Jumbo Visma) 08h 30’ 36’’
2 Silvia Persico (Valcar -Travel & Service) + 00h 00’ 16’’
3 Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon/Sram Racing) + 00h 00’ 16’’
4 Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek – Segafredo) + 00:00 21’’
5 Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (SD Worx) + 00h 00’ 51’’
6 Margarita Victo Garcia Canellas (UAE Team ADQ) + 00h 00’ 55’’
7 Demi Vollering (SD Worx) + 00h 00’ 57’’
8 Juliette Labous (Team DSM) + 00h 01’ 05’’
9 Annemiek Van Vleuten (Movistar Team Women) + 00h 01’ 14’’
10 Cecilie Ludwig (FDJ Suez Futuroscope) + 00h 01’ 48’’
Pre-race reading:
Here’s yesterday’s report from our man in Épernay, Jeremy Whittle:
Preamble
Afternoon everyone, and welcome to what could be a pivotal, and will certainly be a challenging, stage of the Tour de France Femmes. It’s been a pretty compelling race so far and though we may not be that surprised to find Marianne Vos in the yellow jersey, she’s had to work hard for it, and she was thrillingly overhauled yesterday by Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, the Danish rider recovering brilliantly from her stage two horror show.
Ludwig should be reasonably well suited to today’s stage too, which is a demanding one, featuring gravel sectors and five categorised climbs before a fast descent into the winding streets of Bar-sur-Aube at the finish. Vos will be expected to hold on to her overall lead but Canyon-SRAM’s Kasia Niewiadoma, who’s third in the GC standings, and the Paris-Roubaix winner Elisa Longo Borghini might also be in the mix.
The riders roll off around 12pm BST/1pm CET. Stay tuned.
