The race from Reims to Nancy runs on undulating terrain to a flat finale. The last hill, Côte de Maron, is crested just 16 kilometres from the finish, but the sprint teams won’t let the chance slip away. The last 1.5 kilometres serve a perfect finishing straight for a bunch sprint.
The first sprint on this year’s Tour de France was crash-marred as pre-stage favourite Groenewegen went down inside the last 1.5 kilometres. Surprisingly, his lead-out Teunissen took the reins and outgunned Sagan in a millimetres sprint, while Ewan finished in third.
The sprint in Nancy is much more straightforward, so perfectly suited for the pure sprinters.
Given his 2019 credentials, Groenewegen is the sprinter to beat. He won ten races, Ewan nine, Viviani took six sprints, Kristoff four, while Sagan powered to three wins.
Favourites 4th stage 2019 Tour de France
*** Dylan Groenewegen, Elia Viviani
** Peter Sagan, Caleb Ewan, Alexander Kristoff
* Giacomo Nizzolo, André Greipel, Christophe Laporte
Take a look at the route of the 4th stage on the Tour de France.
Tour de France 2019 stage 4: profile and finale
Click on the images to zoom
