197kms with 10 very small cobbled sections with some very steep hills but it's rated as flat. The odds makers have Farrar, Dupont, and Tronet as the stage favourites. Some interesting selections as the sprinters are getting the nod over the pure cobblers.
Let's see how it all plays out as we head out to the road.
The rain is back... just what the riders wanted.
It's not stopping a morning breakaway from forming though. 7 riders and a few dangerous names have decided to go really early (186kms to go):
Lebris is the most interesting name considering he is one of the best cobblers here. Is the peloton going to allow this to go clear?
Van der Ploeg decides he wants to get in the breakaway as well a few kilometers later. And he successfully races across the gap to join them.
As the breakaway continues to pull away... CRASH. De Haes goes down hard. Bad news for the Risa cobbler. His teammates do help him by pacing him back into the peloton, but that looked like it's going to sting for a while.
160kms to go, sun shining once again, and our 8 morning attackers have built a 5 minute lead. We can now officially call them our breakaway of the day.
Azteca - NBCSN and In-n-Out are going to have to keep a very close eye on this group. This has breakaway win written all over it.
Another crash. As if his tour couldn't get any worse... Bugge kisses the pavement. For his sake he should just get into the team car and call it quits. But he gets up. Determined to finish.
He and his team must be thinking, what else could possibly go wrong?
Back up front and the breakaway has hit the first cobble section with 105kms to go. Their lead is only 3'40" so the chase from the peloton has been on par so far.
Climbing up to the sprint point moments later on the 2nd cobble patch Lebris just power away from the group to collect the points but more importantly bonus seconds. 2nd Schachmann and 3rd Malle. Lebris rejoins the group after pulling out a small gap. Perhaps a sign of what is to come later?
The rain is back and so is another crash. A face-plant for Poulhies.
Ouch, ouch, ouch. Great shot by our camera man though.
Surprisingly Poulhies gets up quickly and joins a growing group of riders being dropped already. Matzka, Gajek, and Uugunbayar are the major names already back here chasing with 85kms to go.
Over cobble section #5 In-n-Out stepped on the gas and has created a huge split off the front!
Only 13 riders have made the cut. They are:
Lemoine, Abraha, Paiani, Aulas, Matteau, and Sweeting Aistrup and Rosseler De Winde and Joseph Stoltz Sutton and Laengen
This is incredible. 58kms to go, the breakaway is 2 minutes up the road from this lead group now. Everyone is chasing hard behind at around a minute to catch up.
Big sigh of relief from a lot of team managers as the chase group comes storming back on cobble section #6. 65 riders are now back in the main peloton.
Our camera's missed it but at the 2nd sprint point the breakaway crossed over in this order: Lebris, Takenouchi, and then Oba.
As the peloton keeps breaking up, splitting, and coming back together the breakaway sees 3 riders go clear from the bunch with 50kms to go.
Lebris Takenouchi Oba
The three best cobblers of the group. The paved sections are really tearing this race apart. Much to the amazement of the odds makers.
The peloton has split again! This time it looks like it might go clear. 18 riders:
The 13 that got clear before minus Laengen. Plus new additions of
Kohler and Wyss Dupont Van Wyk Stankovic
There are still 47kms to go, so this is far from over.
Renshaw is not letting this lead group of favourites get away. He tries to power across the 45 seconds gap. In the meantime the group ahead of them has caught the breakaway members dropped by Lebris, Takenouchi, and Oba.
Those breakaway riders slip right through the leading chase group and a few of the tired men in this top group drop out into the 2nd chase group with the breakaways riders. Those names are:
Kohler Aistrup Abraha and Matteau Stankovic
That leaves the 3 breakaway leaders being chased by 13 rider E2 group followed by the 48 rider peloton with 35kms to go. What a stage this is turning out to be. Action everywhere.
Takenouchi goes solo with 24kms to go! They had about a minute advantage over the yellow jersey chase group and 2 minutes over the peloton.
It's a nice try but Lebris and Oba are in this thing until the end.
Soon after they cross over the final sprint point with Lebris taking with Takenouchi on his wheel. Oba is now struggling to keep up with them.
20kms to go and Sweeting is struggling after the 9th cobble section. What are his teammates going to do? Surely they have to wait for him, right? But, if they do then they run the risk of having the peloton bring them all back.
What to do?
They decide to pull up and wait for Sweeting. Luckily, the peloton is in such a disarray themselves after cobble section #9 that they hardly gain any ground on the leader's group.
So, really this only helps the breakaway. Where Takenouchi has attacked again and Oba is trying to get back to Lebris' wheel.
Duque, Bole, and Tronet are preached on the front of the peloton which is down to 33 riders. They can see the yellow jersey group get over the final cobble section with 15kms to go. The gap is estimated around 1'25".
Selander makes a move from the peloton moments after they get over the last cobble section. Bole tried to follow it for a moment but decided against it after he couldn't match the acceleration.
10kms to go! Behind Takenouchi the race situation looks like this:
+1'00" - Lebris
+ 27" - Oba
+ 1'04" - Sweeting's Group
He is followed by Joseph. And they quickly close in on Oba.
Behind them a word on another attack...
Roulston is trying to track them down with 5kms to go.
And he does catch them as they go around Oba. But, do they have enough time to catch Lebris who is looking to get the jersey or Takenouchi on the verge of a fantastic solo victory?
No and no. Takenouchi is the pride of Japan for the day with one of the best rides of the season to date. A minute later Lebris comes home for 2nd...
...Barely. Joseph and Rosseler are right there for 3rd and 4th.
Then a few seconds after that it's Rosseler for 5th.
But, it's the gap to Sweeting that really matters.
If there is a gap then the yellow jersey is going to Lebris.
Aulas does his best to close the distance for his team leader but a gap is still there and Sweeting loses yellow by 56 seconds to Lebris.
The top 10 finishes out with 7th Wyss, 8th Oba, 9th Selander (Yep with our camera's located on the front, Selander was able to sneakily bridge the gap), and 10th Van Wyk.
4'39" after the victory had been celebrated Duque brings home the Bole group. Not much more to say then a disappointing outcome for these guys. They missed the major split and could never pull it back together.
That does it for our stage 4 coverage. 1 hilly stage and 1 more cobble stage to come in the following days. If they are anything like this stage then I can safely say the general classification is anything but decided yet.
Japan for the day with one of the best rides of the season to date. A minute later 
