The stage everyone is waiting for! 186 kilometers that start off quite harshly, after which there’s a long flat section leading to the Ardennaise-like finish, that will quite probably shape the GC the same way we’ll see it tomorrow at the end of Stage 5. Costa, Bibby and Sanchez are the ones with the most chances to take the GC, but it’s a much more open fight for the stage win, which Froome is probably the one that needs to take most.
A seemingly stable break of 6 gets formed as soon as the racing is off, with a few of the riders at the top positions of the KoM rankings in there: Iglinski, Prado, Vuillermoz, Preidler, Sivori, Jumabekov are today’s boldest men.
Preidler tries too late to nab the first KoM sprint of the day, but Iglinski is still in front of him at the line after a better timed sprint. Vuillermoz is 3rd.
For now, Prado remains at the top of the rankings, but Iglinski is now 4 points behind him, only! The Kazakh proceeds to also take on the following intermediate sprint ahead of Jumabekov and Vuillermoz. The gap on the pack, with 120 to go, is stable between 4 minutes and a half and 5 minutes of distance.
Iglinski leaves the breadcrumbs to his break companions, as he cruises ahead of Prado and Preidler in the 2nd KoM sprint of the day. Thanks to that, he now also is only 2 points short of the polka dot jersey rankings' lead. He could take it away of Prado's hands in the last uphill sprint of the day, but it's going to be hard with the peloton just 3 minutes and a half behind.
Meanwhile, Duran joins the break after a chase that took about 10 kilometers.
Maxsim's worse brother continues to dominate today's competitions as he's again ahead of Jumabekov and Prado in the sprint. Duran's effort was too big and gets now caught by the pack after being part of the break for just a few kilometers.
Preidler finally gets his own KoM sprint win after a few horribly timed attacks. Vuillermoz is 2nd, with Iglinski getting at the top in 4th behind Jumabekov.
With Prado already caught by the pack, this makes the Kazakh the new standings leader with 36 points, 2 more than Prado's 34, with Preidler in 3rd. Perfect timing to get caught by the pack this, at least for four of the early break riders, since Preidler and Vuillermoz are still well ahead, with 17 to go.
The Austrian mountain goat, especially, seems to be doing things seriously as he still holds a gap of 2 minutes on the group and 1 minute on Vuillermoz, with now 12 kilometers to go. This is going to be a thrilling finale!
At the start of the penultimate climb, with 10 to go, Vuillermoz gets back in a 30 riders peloton, with Preidler who lost a minute from the rest and now only has a 1-minute margin to administrate on the main bunch, where Kump is leading the chase for his leader, Costa.
Froome has no time to waste being 2 minutes down in the rankings and goes on his own! In just a few meters he has already built a convincing margin on the peloton where Kump is courageously trying his best!
The British puncheur catches the head of the race with 7 to go in a matter of a few pedals, but Kump has already managed to bridge the gap! So we're back to a situation where the group is only made up of 30 riders, and we're done with the first lap of the final hill's circuit.
Kadri goes in the descent leading to the decisive climb!
McEvoy and Dieteren also want to win the stage, they realise he's a threat and try to follow him. With 4 kilometers to go, they are 20 seconds behind him but 35 ahead of the bunch!
Sanchez is the first to take an initiative as Dieteren is caught. With 2 to go, Strava's duo of Vanendert and Gilbert are the first to jump on his wheel.
Froome is close to him as are Vogt (!!!), Bibby, Zingle and Reichenbach.
In the head, McEvoy has caught up with Kadri by now, but his main threat should rather be LLS who is close behind him, as is most of the group!
Not many meters to go and Luis Leon Sanchez quite clearly has a gap on the rest of the group, which might prove crucial! McEvoy and Kadri both have started their sprints, while the Spaniard is trying to catch them on his saddle, whilst gaining as much as he can on the rest of the group. It seems hard to think he might beat them on the line by now, however.
Behind the 3, Gilbert seems to be the quickest one for the final sprint as he is a few meters clear of his teammate Vanendert and Vogt, as well as Bibby and Froome.
A few meters back we also can find Costa, who is struggling quite a lot despite his teammates' great work, beside Dieteren.
Kadri takes a splendid win after a perfect action in the final kilometers of the race! McEvoy is 2nd, but both of them have no chances to bounce at the top of the GC.
Sanchez, 3rd, has a lot of them however, so everything will depend on the time he will gain on the group thanks to his powerful sprint.
Gilbert gets a good 4th position ahead of his teammate Vanendert and Bibby, who therefore has to hope he lost less than 20 seconds from Sanchez Gil, if he wants to take the leader’s jersey.
Froome wasted too many energies on his worthless attack and is only 7th today, which won't gain him those many positions back in the GC. Vogt ate less Nutella than normal to grab a good 8th for his standards, even ahead of a quite a lot more underwhelming Rui Costa, 9th, who officially has to say goodbye to GC hopes - unless something really unexpected happens tomorrow, but will stand on the podium after this stage.
Reichenbach rounds off the top 10, where just outside we find Wiesenhof's duo of Preidler and Dieteren, both on the attack in different sections of the stage today, Navardauskas 13th, and then yet another Wiesenhof rider in Zingle, ahead of Kump.
Bad news for Ian Bibby! Luis Leon Sanchez is the new leader by a mere 8 seconds, as he arrived 34 seconds behind him, to which 4 more of bonus are added up!
The Brit still has a chance tomorrow in a long, not exactly pan flat stage, but it's going to be very tough to get ahead of the Spaniard again!
