Deceuninck-Quick-Step’s Elia Viviani pipped UAE Team Emirates’ Alexander Kristoff in a photo finish to win stage four of the Tour de France, which finished in a bunch sprint in Nancy today.
Kristoff opened the sprint, but it was the Italian who had the better lead-out and the latter prevailed to take his first Tour de France stage win. Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) placed third.
“Today we did a perfect job, you saw how the lead-out did. I just need to thank the team, they were really unbelievable. I just had to do my job in the last 180m; it’s what I can do better [than most] if they launch me like that,” said Viviani.
“I’m pretty happy. I was missing this win. I won in the Giro and the Vuelta and now in the Tour de France. That means a lot to me.”
The break of the day consisted of Michael Schar (CCC Team), Yoann Offredo (Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team) and Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team), who had a maximum gap of 3:30. After a series of attacks, Schar was the last rider to be caught by the bunch with just over 16km remaining.
Frenchman Lilian Calmejane (Total Direct Énergie) attacked 11km out, but the former Tour de France stage winner was caught with less than 6km remaining.
