Tour de France 2026: Pedersen triumphs from breakaway, Træen claims yellow

fotobureau Cor VosMads Pedersen caps off a dominant display by Lidl-Trek in the streets of Foix. The Dane is part of the day's early breakaway and comfortably wins the sprint from a group of ten. Norway's Torstein Træen finishes in the same group to take the yellow jersey from Tadej Pogacar. (Slideshow route/profile)

Stage 4 Results – 2026 Tour de France

1. Mads Pedersen (den) 4:10:45
2. Quinn Simmons (usa) s.t.
3. Raúl García Pierna (spa) s.t.
4. Marco Frigo (ita) s.t.
5. Ramses Debruyne (bel) s.t.
6. Kévin Vauquelin (fra) s.t.
7. Sean Quinn (usa) s.t.
8. Torstein Træen (nor) s.t.
9. Pablo Castrillo (spa) s.t.
10. Mathias Vacek (cze) s.t.

- peloton + 12:59

GC after stage 4

1. Torstein Træen (nor)
2. Sean Quinn (usa) + 0:28
3. Mathias Vacek (cze) + 3:50
4. Tadej Pogacar (slo) + 7:53
5. Jonas Vingegaard (den) s.t.
6. Ramses Debruyne (bel) + 8:06
7. Remco Evenepoel (bel) + 8:16
8. Isaac del Toro (mex) + 8:17
9. Juan Ayuso (spa) + 8:20
10. Paul Seixas (fra) + 8:41

11. Florian Lipowitz (ger) + 8:46
12. Lenny Martinez (fra) + 9:02
13. Tobias Halland Johannessen (nor) + 9:04
14. Ilan Van Wilder (bel) + 9:10
15. Tom Pidcock (gbr) + 9:15
16. Richard Carapaz (ecu) + 9:38
18. Mattias Skjelmose (den) + 9:43
20. Thymen Arensman (nld) + 10:12

Race report
A 14-rider breakaway goes clear early on, featuring Mads Pedersen, Mathias Vacek, Alex Kirsch, Pablo Castrillo, Kévin Vauquelin, Nelson Oliveira, Jasper Stuyven, Pascal Eenkhoorn, Frank van den Broek, Brent Van Moer, Georg Steinhauser, Alexandre Delettre and Joel Nicolau.

After around 15 kilometres, they are joined by 20 more riders: Nico Denz, Jan Tratnik, Quinn Simmons, Michael Valgren, Vlad Van Mechelen, Michael Matthews, Marco Frigo, Romain Grégoire, Jasper Philipsen, Ion Izagirre, Quinten Hermans, Edward Planckaert, Ramses Debruyne, Biniam Girmay, Alex Molenaar, Sean Quinn, Torstein Træen, Raúl García Pierna, Georg Zimmermann and Ewen Costiou.

At the intermediate sprint in Quillan, Biniam Girmay beats Jasper Philipsen and Mads Pedersen. As a result, the Dane moves up to second in the points classification, just two points behind Tadej Pogacar.

Tratnik accelerates on the Col de Coudons. Vacek follows his move immediately, while bridges across on the plateau after the summit. The trio open up a lead of just under 1 minute over the chasers, but they are caught on the Col de Montségur. By then, the peloton is already 8 minutes behind.

Following several attacks on the climb, the breakaway is whittled down to ten riders after the summit: Pedersen, Simmons, Vacek, Quinn, Vauquelin, Debruyne, Castrillo, García Pierna, Frigo, Quinn and Træen.

With Simmons and Vacek doing the work, Lidl-Trek controls the race in the closing stages. They neutralise attacks from García Pierna and Castrillo before their leader Pedersen powers to a convincing sprint victory in Foix.

The peloton ships another 5 minutes after the Col de Montségur, which is more than enough for Træen to take the yellow jersey from Pogacar. Quinn is the new second overall, just 28 seconds behind, while Vacek sits third, almost 4 minutes adrift of cycling's most coveted jersey.

Another interesting read: route 4th stage 2026 Tour de France.