The 2025 Tour de France continued Tuesday with stage 4 – a 174.2-kilometer ride in hilly terrain on a route from Amiens to Rouen, where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake on May 30, 1431, after being tried and falsely convicted of jersey by an English-dominated tribunal. 

Joan of Arc’s death was a significant event in the Hundred Years War and the Tour de France will use the opportunity to see the riders in the peloton battle for victory in a stage, which is expected to be dominated by a long breakaway and possibly even a battle between the GC favorites in the stage finale.

Stage 4 of Tour de France 2025 got off to a fast start under cloudy skies and with temperatures in the neighborhood of 16 to 21 degrees Celsius and a lackluster wind from northwest. Frenchman Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) broke away from the main peloton with Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) and the two riders were joined by Thomas Gachignard (Team TotalEnergies) and not least Kasper Asgreen of EF Education-EasyPost. The four riders established a breakaway quartet and had fought their way to a lead of almost two minutes after ten kilometers of racing.

The main peloton was keeping the breakaway on a relatively tight leash while being spearheaded by riders from Alpecin-Deceuninck in support of their general classification leader Mathieu van der Poel in the yellow jersey. The advantage of the breakaway quartet was still approximately two minutes after thirty and fifty kilometers of racing.

Things were status quo when 100 kilometers remained and the same was the case when seventy kilometers of the stage remained. The peloton then started increasing its pace as the riders approached the decisive phase of the race and the five small, but categorized, climbs.

The lead of the front group was down to 01:48 minutes approximately fifty kilometers from the finish line, and 01:10 minutes when forty kilometers remained. Meanwhile, Sepp Kuss (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Matteo Vercher (Team TotalEnergies) and Yevgeniy Fedorov had crashed in the main peloton.

Kasper Asgreen was first to reach the summit of Cote Jacques Anquetil and earned points for the best climber classification.

Lenny Martinez was the first rider to reach the summit of the climb with 28 kilometers to go after having left his breakaway compatriots behind, but the main peloton was now very close to the rider and Gachignard, Abrahamsen and Asgreen had already been swallowed.

Martinez entered the descent solo with a lead of just twelve seconds. 

A crash occurred in the main peloton with 25 kilometers remaining. The crash involved Remco Evenepoel’s Soudal-QuickStep lieutenant Valentin Paret-Peintre and other riders. 

The speed in the main peloton was intense with 23 kilometers left and Martinez was still playing chase rabbit, while hoping to take the points for the best climber classification on the next summit before being caught by the peloton. Martinez got swallowed one kilometer later.

UAE Team Emirates riders had moved to the front of the peloton and were controlling the pace with 17 kilometers left. The UAE riders had been joined by challengers from Alpecin-Deceuninck when 14 kilometers remained. While the UAE team was preparing Tadej Pogacar for the stage finale, the Alpecin-Deceuninck men were working actively to protect the interests of Mathieu van der Poel. Visma-Lease a Bike with Jonas Vingegaard was a bit further back as were Remco Evenepoel and other GC favorites.

Tim Wellens led Tadej Pogacar and the rest of the peloton across the summit of the Cote de la Grand Mere climb. Visma-Lease a Bike riders then took control of the peloton and were apparently preparing to launch Jonas Vingegaard in the stage finale. Ten kilometers remained.

Tiesj Benoot was leading the peloton with six kilometers left as the riders entered the climb. Approximately thirty riders remained in the first peloton group at this point. Joao Almeida moved to the front and increased the pace even further.

Tadej Pogacar attacked with 5.5 kilometers remaining and Jonas Vingegaard immediately closed the gap. The Dane, however, lost contact with Pogacar at the 5.3-kilometer point but fought his way back in the final meters of the climb.

Pogacar and Vingegaard were now forming the front duo. Five kilometers remained. A small group, headed by Remco Evenepoel, was chasing five seconds behind. The first chase group caught Pogacar and Vingegaard with four kilometers to the finish line in Rouen. Mattias Skjelmose, Romain Gregoire and Kevin Vauquelin were still chasing further back.

Remco Evenepoel courageously attacked with two kilometers left but got reeled in shortly later. Matteo Jorgenson tried his luck. 

Almeida and the rest of the group caught Jorgenson with a few hundred meters left. Van der Poel started his sprint, but Tadej Pogacar countered.

Tadej Pogacar proved the strongest and fastest rider in the stage and crossed the finish line in 03:50:29 as winner of stage 4 of the Tour de France. Mathieu van der Poel finished second, while Jonas Vingegaard completed the stage podium. Oscar Onley finished the stage in fourth place for Picnic-PostNL, while Joao Almeida was sixth, Remco Evenepoel seventh, and Matteo Jorgenson eighth. Mattias Skjelmose was the ninth rider to cross the finish line, while Kevin Vauquelin completed the stage top ten. 

Mathieu van der Poel remains leader of the general classification and will wear the yellow jersey again in tomorrow’s stage 5. Pogacar is in second place with the same time as the Dutch rider, while Vingegaard is third with a deficit of eight seconds.

Wednesday’s stage 5 of Tour de France 2025 will invite the remaining riders in the Tour peloton to a 33-kilometer time trial battle in flat terrain on a route from Caen and back. Look for the time trial specialists in the peloton to aim for a grand stage victory, while general classification favorites such as Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard also target a stage victory and important time gains on their competitors.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for complete coverage from the 2025 Tour de France.