Van Aert extends overall lead in Tour de France with stage 4 win | Sports

The Belgian rider held the leader’s yellow jersey for the Jumbo–Visma group immediately after getting it for the initially time on Saturday. He also prolonged his lead in the eco-friendly jersey contest for ideal sprinter.

Van Aert shook up the peloton when he surged ahead up the past of the 5 climbs — a 900-meter ascent up Cote du Cap Blanc-Nez at a gradient of 7.5 % — about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the conclude.

He stated he felt an early attack was the very best way to stay away from a mass sprint at the line.

“I did not want to take the threat of dropping anymore. It was fairly noticeable that we were seeking anything with the workforce,” he claimed. “I went entire gas to see what would materialize. I went all out.”

The 27-year-old Van Aert is regarded as one of the very best multi-qualified riders in the entire world and is a previous a few-time cyclo-cross planet winner and a one particular-working day classics specialist.

The Jumbo-Visma rider flapped his palms like a bird’s wings as he sat up on his bike. He crossed the line 8 seconds obvious of countryman Jasper Philipsen of the Alpecin–Fenix crew, with Jumbo-Visma teammate Christophe Laporte taking 3rd position in a sprint end.

“This jersey presents wings. It was unquestionably a challenging climb but this phase was incredibly most likely likely to conclude up in bunch dash,” Van Aert said. “It was tough to end by yourself, but many thanks to the get the job done of my teammates, I did it. It was up to me to end it off.”

Van Aert picked up a 10-second time reward and is now 25 seconds ahead of Yves Lampaert in the over-all standings and 32 seconds distinct of two-time defending winner Tadej Pogacar.

Pogacar’s rival Primoz Roglic, the 2020 Tour runner-up and Van Aert’s teammate, stayed seventh over-all and remained nine seconds powering Pogacar, with both equally finishing in the major pack.

After a travel day, riders tackled a sunny 171.5-kilometer (106.3-mile) route from the coastal metropolis of Dunkirk to Calais, wherever riders could see the English coastline when they arrived into the much-applied port place. Van Aert done it in 4 several hours, 1 minute, 36 seconds.

Danish rider Magnus Cort, who thrilled crowds with his breakaway rides throughout 3 intense times in Denmark, was yet again in the early breakaway — this time together with Anthony Perez.

Perez pulled forward some 45 kilometers (28 miles) out and Cort was caught by the peloton soon following. Cort picked up much more factors in the polka-dot jersey bid but much extra tricky climbs in the Alps and Pyrenees are continue to to arrive.

Wednesday’s fifth stage is a flat stage for sprinters more than 157 kilometers (97 miles) beginning at Lille Metropole and heading about some of the feared cobblestones that characteristic on the Paris-Roubaix one-day traditional.

The race ends on July 24 in Paris.