We join you live with Stage 4 of the Tour de France, and the uphill finish today is shorter and easier than yesterday's brutal finish in Strazne, but the short climb to Tanvar-Zdar is still pretty tough. The run-in is probably tougher than yesterday though, with a Cat.3 and a Cat.2, and several even tougher uncategorised climbs. Funny how these have worked so far, but oh well.
Today is hotly anticipated after the entertaining and major GC changes we saw yesterday as Gesink took the stage win, the yellow jersey, and a minute out of the next best climbers ( Sicard and Spilak).
But no escape from reality for some of these riders. Many GC men were caught in a landslide as they lost lost over four minutes too. Taaramäe a big loser as well, conceding 50 seconds to Spilak and 1'30 to Gesink, the two other favourites for this race.
The puncheurs showed themselves amongst the clmbers on yesterday's longer finish, but they'll go into today as favourites. Second on GC and in yesterday's stage Vakoc looks in good nick and riding a strong wave of home support, whilst Froome, Vogt, Flügel and Reichenbach all showed some strength and spirit too, especially the Berg rider.
Unlike the last two days, there have been some failed breakaway attempts today with more KoM points up for grabs. They just had to get right out of there, but the peloton would not let them go (let them go). They were:
#1: Korsaeth, Naud, Aramendia, Newton, Leung, Boros and Vliegen
#2: Korsaeth, Naud
#3: Korsaeth, Naud, Boros, Korsaeth, Vermeltfoort, Le Roux
The final breakaway gets away over the Cat.3, it is Le Roux Naud and Vermeltfoort, who cross the KoM in that order. This picture doesn't show it, but they did sprint for it!
Le Roux takes the very tough Studenov KoM and moves up to 16 points. Not enough to catch Fejes but a good job and a dominant performance. The gap is 2'57 with 67km to go.
For the second stage running, with a little over 30km to go a group has splintered off the front of the peloton, with some scarily similar riders. They are Spilak, Pernsteiner, Ricco, Kratochvila, Pavlic Froome, Poljanski, Bostner Gesink, Vogt Flügel, Park Sicard and Taaramäe. That's just eerie.
Meanwhile at the same time again, Fraile has been dropped.
They catch the breakaway but soon the peloton is back on terms.
Pernsteiner bringing the hurt for Spilak on the third-to-last climb, a very steep one with sections above 13%! Some gaps forming further behind...
A dangerous group getting away now! Pernsteiner, Spilak, Taaramae, Flugel and Froome have a small gap to Portela, working for Gesink.
However they don't push the pace and it's back together for 9 riders over the top. 20km to go.
A rough day for Reis here, over four minutes down inside the last 15km and tumbling out of GC contention. A shame, he looked very good in the prologue.
Goodbye everybody, Flugel has got to go… on the penultimate climb! Attacking the peloton with just over 10km to go and Vakoc and Reichenbach trying to follow - a dangerous trio!
Paterski also following.
Now it's not Froome but Roche from Fablok countering, followed by Slagter!
And Spilak as well! A sneaky move by the Slovenian, dropping behind his rivals and attacking out of a gap with too much speed to follow! However Jensen and Lecuisinier will try!
At the moment all but Flugel, Roche and Slagter are caught but Spilak tries again on the downhill, but he's marked by Berg.
Sorry, we're experiencing some technical difficulties in the valley here, we're working to return coverage to you as soon as we can.
4.5km to go and Flugel, Roche then Slagter are all separated by about 15 seconds, with 30 back to the Pernsteiner-lead peloton. A great effort by the Austrian today, dominating tempo for over 40km now.
Roche is edging closer with 2.3km to go and Flugel turning a sharp right-hander onto the final climb! 9 seconds betwixt the pair, 15 back to Slagter and 1'08 from Flugel to the peloton! And my producer says we're back now...
If Flugel doesn't blow up here, the win should be his for the taking as he pulls away from the others on the climb! You didn't miss much, but now Aleksandar Flugel is absolutely going for it, as Kraftwerk look to beat fellow wildcard Fablok to a huge stage win!
In the peloton after a mad dash to the corner, Spilak launches opposite Taaramae on the other side of the road, with Lecuisinier and Gesink close behind the Slovenian and Barguil close behind the Estonian. Hopefully a sign of a turnaround for the Frenchman.
Flamme rouge now for Flugel and to be honest in a totally cycling way that fluid climbing style is really floating my boat, he's looking very good on the bike!
Spilak applying the pressure with Taaramae, Gesink, Barguil and Lecuisinier behind. The road will kick up under the flamme rouge and we could see some separation there, but for now there's still 60 riders in contact with the peloton.
Haig and Bongiorno quite well placed here whilst Calmejane is looking to add to his stage win tally this season by going himself - a good sprinter and puncheur, it's a nice finish for him but I'll be surprised if he beats the big climbers here!
500m and more of the same for Flugel with Roche and Slagter both cracking behind! He's still sprinting out of the saddle, a consummate ride here!
Sicard and Wellens join the fray behind Spilak in the bunch but it looks like there won't be any gaps, maybe they can overhaul Slagter for some bonuses though!
A leisurely post up as Aleksandar Flugel can enjoy his big win here, a fantastic ride over the last two climbs to claim a solo stage win with ample time to celebrate and salute the fans. A classy win, and so the tie on his jersey only seems appropriate!
Roche is second, a nice ride but Flugel was on a different level today. A great day for the wildcards here, 1st and 2nd!
Spilak comes close but Slagter just holds on for the bonuses in third, but no time gap.
Still, Every Second Counts, as someone who totally didn't dope so hard that seconds didn't really count once titled his second book. Some nice GC time for the Dutchman. Speaking of Dutchmen, the yellow jersey nips Taaramae on the line for fifth.
Three Frenchmen next, and a close finish between Lecuisinier and Sicard for 7th. A microcosm of the best Frenchman battle really, with Sicard and Lecuisinier battling and Barguil a couple of bike lengths behind.
Make that four Frenchmen, as Calmejane hangs on ahead of Froome to round out the top 10 - a nice result for the eBuddy rider. A curious stage for the Brit, as he let Roche take the reigns today.
Quite a few GC contenders shipping time here, including Dekker, Galta, Intxausti and Schelling. A rough day for Porto here, with Intxausti losing time and Vinhas and Reis out of the GC picture even further behind!
And now we're hearing there were gaps in the peloton, from Taaramae to Lecuisinier and Sicard to Barguil at least! Meaning some reward for those who were attentive today and not just wasted energy.
Gesink earns another day in yellow with a cool performance following Spilak for most of it and not losing any time. With 24 seconds gained on Vakoc he now has more than a minute's lead, whilst we also see Roche break into the top 10 with his performance (Slagter moves into 13th as well), whilst Flugel moves to sixth and Taaramae to fifth.
Tomorrow is the easiest of our climby Czech days and has a flat finish, so we could see all manners of finishes - a reduced sprint, a late attack, a GC fight or maybe even our first breakaway stage! This is, of course, Le Tour de France, so we know there'll be drama and lots of excitement. Don't miss out, I hope you join us again tomorrow. Au revoir!
