OFFICIAL Stage 4 Results: Kellard O'Brien ABANDONS!

[Laurens De Jong]

Hello, Tour de France Gamers!

 

STAGE Grade: B0

 

I rate today’s stage a B-. I wasn’t very excited about the route, there was nothing to do in the general classification; on the plus side, Lidl-Trek’s demonstration that cycling is a team sport, the utter domination in the sprint by Mads Pedersen, and the fact that Mathieu van der Poel was nowhere to be seen added a few stars to today’s rating.

 

Route: 2/5         GC: 1/5             Tactics: 3/5       Sprint: 3/5         Surprises: 2/5

 

 

We learned more from today’s stage than Monday’s. We learned that Mads Pedersen is here to win the green jersey; and that Matthieu van der Poel isn’t. We learned that Biniam Girmay and Jasper Philipsen want to win the green jersey, too. They were in the breakaway until the intermediate sprint, and then dropped back — conserving energy for tomorrow’s bunch sprint stage.

 

We learned that transition stages still exist. At one point it looked like UAE Team Emirates – XRG was going to control the breakaway: the gap was just over five minutes for a long time. But in the end it was twelve minutes, which could have been thirty or more. There was no attempt from any team in the peloton to make this a race.

 

A couple of riders in the huge breakaway I want to mention. First, this was a great demonstration by Lidl-Trek. Cycling is a team sport. Pedersen won the stage with a little help from Quinn Simmons and a lot of help from Mathias Vacek.

 

Vacek is a curious rider. Six time the national champion in both road racing and the individual time trial, but only two other wins. I believe he could have won today, but he was here to support Pedersen. Jan Tratnik sneaked away from the group at one point and only Vacek countered. But he was told not to work, so he didn’t. The immaculate team player, Vacek. He did all the work, and Pedersen won the stage.

 

Jan Tratnik? What was he doing in this breakaway. And Nico Denz? It was my understanding that Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe were here to win the 2026 Tour de France. With Remco Evenepoel or, plan B, Florian Lipowitz. The energy Tratnik and Denz used up today can’t be spent in the mountains, so why were they doing that. If Red Bull is thinking they won’t need them in the mountains, why did they bring them? I thought that was odd.

 

Circling back to Simmons, I can see why Sporza thought he could win the stage today. If he hadn’t been paid to let Pedersen win, he finally would have gotten his first grand tour stage win. Instead, he celebrated Pedersen’s win. Fully according to the regulations: he celebrated but did not put others at risk. Despite Sporza’s concern that he might be fined. Even Sporza doesn’t know everything.

 

Team Tadej were the only one who had picked Marco Frigo. In 2025, I picked Frigo a few times as my daily prediction of the next day’s stage winner in the Giro d’Italia. He never did, in fact he’s only ever won once. But fourth today is the kind of thing he does well. In 2025 he took a third and a second place in the Vuelta a España, and eighth once in the Giro. In 2024 he took a seventh and a second place in the Vuelta. Good placings from breakaway stages, but never a victory.

 

His team gave him the okay to join the breakaway today. Meaning they won’t need him to lead out Girmay on Wednesday. If he did that today, then we’ll see it again in the next transition stage. Watch for him on Sunday.

 

Watch the final kilometer HERE.

Watch the FloBikes highlights HERE.

Watch NBC Sports’ Extended highlights HERE.

Read the TNT Sports report HERE.

 

Kelland O’Brien’s abandon hurt Team Cameron. Not as much as it hurt O’Brien himself; he missed the time limit by eight minutes. He had injured himself in a crash in stage 2, and was dropped early today. It’s unusual for a rider to finish a stage outside of the time limit. Much is written about his grit and tenacity, but the reality is that he knew he was going to abandon today. I don’t really understand why he finished.

Spoiler alert: only Team Matthew and Team Charles changed places today; everyone else remained where they were.

 

It was a small-points kind of day with that monster breakaway; but those who had picked the likes of Pedersen and Simmons outscored the others. Top of the heap were Team Caleb and Team Matthew. Their teams include Quinn Simmons and Kévin Vauqelin. Most points from the stage, most points overall, most riders in the Top-25 (three, shared also with Team Tadej).

 

There was also a tie for third between Team Josh and Team Tadej. They got to their points total in completely different ways — Team Josh with most points from classifications, Team Tadej with the aforementioned Frigo.

 

Team Hugo were fifth, Team Charles sixth. In seventh were Team Ansel and eighth was once again a tie: Team Oliver and Team Wesley.

 

The others missed the boat today. Team Amalia were tenth, Team Grace were eleventh, and Team Cameron were twelfth.

Stage 5 will be the first bunch sprint of the 2026 Tour de France. Despite the fact that Mathieu van der Poel hasn't done anything so far, and that therefore his logical role is to lead Jasper Philipsen to stage wins, I don't think it will happen. Biniam Girmay has won all the intermediate sprints so far, and his sprint train seems unbeatable. They, too, saved their energy today. I believe Girmay will win stage 5.

 

Standings after stage 4:

 

Rank	Name	Points	WAS	MOVES
1	Team Tadej*	979	1	0
2	Team Ansel*	926	2	0
3	Team Hugo*	904	3	0
4	Team Josh*	897	4	0
5	Team Caleb*	827	5	0
6	Team Matthew*	788	7	1
7	Team Charles*	757	6	-1
8	Team Amalia*	652	8	0
9	Team Oliver*	651	9	0
10	Team Wesley*	573	10	0
11	Team Grace*	383	11	0
12	Team Cameron*	293	12	0

 

Standings after stage 4 (including dogs and adults):

 

Rank	Name	Points	WAS	MOVES
1	Team Amelia	979	1	0
	Team Tadej*	979	4	3
3	Team Kent	967	2	-1
4	Team Jonwaine	938	3	-1
5	Team Kari	929	6	1
6	Team Ansel*	926	5	-1
7	Team Hugo*	904	7	0
8	Team Josh*	897	9	1
9	Team Eric	879	13	4
10	Team Melanie	878	10	0
11	Team Rob	872	8	-3
12	Team Craig	860	14	2
13	Team Jon	852	12	-1
14	Team Julie	836	16	2
15	Team Jonathan	829	15	0
16	Team Kurt	828	17	1
17	Team Caleb*	827	18	1
18	Team Laurens	816	11	-7
19	Team Corsa	789	20	1
20	Team Matthew*	788	23	3
21	Team Ed	775	19	-2
22	Team Charles*	757	22	0
23	Team Charlotte	728	21	-2
24	Team Ellie	727	28	4
25	Team Grace	719	24	-1
26	Team Kate	706	32	6
27	Team Erin	697	29	2
28	Team Adam	672	30	2
29	Team Furner	668	25	-4
30	Team Cameron	663	31	1
31	Team Ambrose	662	33	2
32	Team Suzanne	657	26	-6
33	Team Amalia*	652	26	-7
34	Team Oliver*	651	34	0
35	Team Allison	641	35	0
36	Team Wesley	621	38	2
37	Team Lichterman	597	37	0
38	Team Wesley*	573	36	-2
39	Team Izzy	510	39	0
40	Team Senna#	502	40	0
41	Team Grace*	383	41	0
42	Team Valerie	358	42	0
43	Team Cameron*	293	43	0
44	Team Sam	269	44	0

 

Complete breakdown of points from stage 4:

 

Name	STAGE RESULTS	YELLOW JERSEY	GREEN JERSEY	POLKA DOT JERSEY	WHITE JERSEY	POINTS/CLASS	TOTAL	PREVIOUS	CUM. TOTAL
Team Amalia*	0	20	8	0	3	31	31	621	652
Team Ansel*	35	23	13	0	6	42	77	849	926
Team Caleb*	85	21	15	0	4	40	125	702	827
Team Cameron*	9	7	4	0	0	11	20	273	293
Team Charles*	55	21	13	0	4	38	93	664	757
Team Grace*	0	13	7	3	0	23	23	360	383
Team Hugo*	55	23	13	0	6	42	97	807	904
Team Josh*	51	31	13	0	11	55	106	791	897
Team Matthew*	85	21	15	0	4	40	125	663	788
Team Oliver*	35	19	12	0	2	33	68	583	651
Team Tadej*	63	23	13	1	6	43	106	873	979
Team Wesley*	42	15	7	0	4	26	68	505	573

 

Complete breakdown of points from stage 4 (including dogs and adults):

 

Name	STAGE RESULTS	YELLOW JERSEY	GREEN JERSEY	POLKA DOT JERSEY	WHITE JERSEY	POINTS/CLASS	TOTAL	PREVIOUS	CUM. TOTAL
Team Adam	30	19	10	0	6	35	65	607	672
Team Allison	55	14	9	0	4	27	82	559	641
Team Amalia*	0	20	8	0	3	31	31	621	652
Team Ambrose	35	21	13	0	4	38	73	589	662
Team Amelia	39	23	13	0	6	42	81	898	979
Team Ansel*	35	23	13	0	6	42	77	849	926
Team Caleb*	85	21	15	0	4	40	125	702	827
Team Cameron	35	16	12	0	3	31	66	597	663
Team Cameron*	9	7	4	0	0	11	20	273	293
Team Charles*	55	21	13	0	4	38	93	664	757
Team Charlotte	20	17	8	0	4	29	49	679	728
Team Corsa	65	23	15	0	6	44	109	680	789
Team Craig	55	23	13	0	6	42	97	763	860
Team Ed	50	21	13	0	4	38	88	687	775
Team Ellie	65	22	15	0	5	42	107	620	727
Team Eric	65	23	15	0	6	44	109	770	879
Team Erin	54	18	9	0	1	28	82	615	697
Team Furner	0	19	8	0	6	33	33	635	668
Team Grace	35	22	13	0	5	40	75	644	719
Team Grace*	0	13	7	3	0	23	23	360	383
Team Hugo*	55	23	13	0	6	42	97	807	904
Team Izzy	35	16	13	0	3	32	67	443	510
Team Jon	35	23	13	0	6	42	77	775	852
Team Jonathan	30	22	10	0	5	37	67	762	829
Team Jonwaine	21	23	8	0	6	39	60	878	938
Team Josh*	51	31	13	0	11	55	106	791	897
Team Julie	39	23	13	0	6	42	81	755	836
Team Kari	65	23	15	0	6	44	109	820	929
Team Kate	80	19	14	0	2	35	115	591	706
Team Kent	39	23	13	0	6	42	81	886	967
Team Kurt	69	21	15	0	4	40	109	719	828
Team Laurens	0	23	8	0	6	37	37	779	816
Team Lichterman	97	14	14	0	1	29	126	471	597
Team Matthew*	85	21	15	0	4	40	125	663	788
Team Melanie	50	23	13	0	6	42	92	786	878
Team Oliver*	35	19	12	0	2	33	68	583	651
Team Rob	35	23	13	0	6	42	77	795	872
Team Sam	22	17	4	0	1	22	44	225	269
Team Senna#	50	17	12	0	0	29	79	423	502
Team Suzanne	0	21	8	3	4	36	36	621	657
Team Tadej*	63	23	13	1	6	43	106	873	979
Team Valerie	46	13	12	5	0	30	76	282	358
Team Wesley	110	34	14	0	5	53	163	458	621
Team Wesley*	42	15	7	0	4	26	68	505	573

 

Allez le Tour!

 

-Laurens.