This fourth stage is likely to be considered the queen stage of this edition of the Tour of Norway. It will also be likely to decide the mountain classification as there are a maximum of 34 points on offer if someone can take all 4 3rd category climbs and the 10 points on the finish line. It’s a bumpy route with an aggressive ramp to the finish line. Teams will to make interesting choices in the battle for GC or stage win as the top 10 favorites according to the game all sit well back, with the closest in 70th position.
The Stage
The race is off!
3 riders head off on the attack - Jensen, followed by KOM jersey wearer Le Gac, and Debesay. None are close in the GC and are easily allowed a small gap. Over the next 10km, the gap stabilizes around 45 seconds, with no attacks from the peloton, but a clear impetus to keep the breakaway close.
At the base of the first climb, the peloton is lead by Xero Racing and Tafjord Kraft. Surprisingly, its Boassen Hagen doing most of the work for the later, when most would have predicted him as their leader for the stage. The gap remains approximately 40 seconds. As the begin slopes rise, the gap decreases ever so slightly, making it a possibility for someone to jump across for the points. They think better of it and the gap extends beyond 1 minute for the first time.
Jensen jumps early for an attempt at the KOM points and has already created a small gap from Le Gac and Debesay.
Neither can do anything about it and Jensen takes the points easily, ahead of Debesay and Le Gac in that order. By the time the duo cross the line, Jensen has established a 51 second lead over his compatriots while Debesay and Le Gac hold the same lead over the peloton. All three are laboring a bit and will enjoy the ensuing decent. Jensen waits up for the duo, but Debesay is immediately dropped from the lead.
A tough breakaway for Debesay who will need to recover in the peloton in an effort to make it the remaining 143km. Le Gac and Jensen continue on, holding only 1 minute to the group with 5km to go to the sprint.
With only 1km left to the sprint, the breakaway is in shambles and the peloton has realized there are sprint points up for grabs. Houle is the only sprinter near the front, but Lindau and Nikiema have gapped the front to bridge to the leaders. Even here, Le Gac has separated from Jensen who is simply trying to survive until the line.
With the late run, Nikiema crosses the line first and will attempt to lead the breakaway. Azman makes a very late run to nip Le Gac on the line, as they take the scoring places. Lindau is hot on their heals with Jensen still officially connected, but about to drop. Antunes is also trying to connect to the front, alongside Chernetskiy.
Almost 70km into the race and the breakaway is not fully established. Waeytens is the latest to attack and make the front. The 6 leaders are: Waeytens, Azman, Antunes, Chernetskiy, Lindau, and Nikiema. 26” back is Le Gac struggling, with Jensen still another 39” of Le Gac. The peloton has decided that this is the group to go though, giving a full 2’49” to the front 6. After a long 10km struggle, Le Gac reconnects and makes the front group 7. Jensen is still alone between the groups.
Finally, with 106km to go, the breakaway is all back together again and Jensen rejoins, but is clearly fatigued. The gap is 4 minutes.
The riders enter a circuit of a tough intermediate climb the gap to the breakaway descends rapidly. What was 4 minutes at the bottom is less than 2 minutes with 2km to go from the top. This has caused our first group of riders to be dropped from the pack. It could be a long day for many.
As the riders crest the top, Azman grabs full points, followed by Waeytens and Nikiema. None can challenge Le Gac yet, but Le Gac would have loved to get points here with a max of 22 points still left up for grabs. The gap is 2’11” to the peloton now and Jensen has been dropped again, sitting mid-way between the leaders and peloton. Leading the peloton are Amaysim and Project Africa and the gap extends again after cresting the KOM point.
A very challenging day for Jensen, who returns to the peloton with 70km to go. Red Bull Zalgiris now joins the teams leading the peloton.
It’s neck and neck for Azman and Waeytens across the top this time with Antunes clearly taking 3rd. The photo gives it to Waeytens. This leaves us with a 3 way tie across the top of the KOM with Wayetens, Azman and Le Gac all carrying 10 points. AS the peloton crosses the top, there’s a 3 minute lead for the breakaway and only 60km to go.
The first main rider in GC to drop is Campenaerts. He’ll lose his 2nd place in GC, but how much time will he lose. Many other sprinters are falling off the pace after that mountain pass. 50KM to go and the peloton is down to 154 riders. We expect another major selection on the penultimate trip to the KOM.
Antunes pushes the pace over the penultimate climb, ahead of Waeytens who now takes the KOM lead. Nikiema takes 3rd. Le Gac and Lindau are clearly struggling and fall off the pack, losing almost a minute immediately.
Meanwhile, at the back of the peloton, GC leader Gonzalez Salas is holding on for dear life. He knows he won’t make the final selection, but anything he can do will help him secure a better GC position. The undulations after the KOM point however have done him in and he’s off the back for good.
20km to go and there are five leaders: Waeytens, Chernetskiy, Azman, Nikiema, and Antunes. The peloton is 2’10” with Le Gac and Lindau sitting ducks between the two groups. Just 100 riders remain in the peloton. Most surprisingly dropped are Boassen Hagen and McCarthy who are just behind the peloton, but unlikely to make it back.
14KM to go and the peloton is split right before the steep descent to the final climb. Only 48 remain in the official peloton. It appears that Bjerg is the best remaining rider dropped from the peloton, but at this point riders are all over the road. Kämna, Dennis, and Dunbar are all still in the main peloton, alongside Christodoulos, the young rider leader and best positioned of anyone in the group. The gap is 1’39”
Chernetskiy pushes the pace for the breakaway, inadvertently causing a small gap to form to Nikiema and Antunes. It closely within a kilometer, but Antunes put in a lot of energy to return. The gap to the peloton is 1’32”
6.5km to go and the road starts going up! The breakaway must believe they have a chance for the win still, but the peloton will surely climb faster than the five long-time leaders. Cedevita is the team leading the peloton for any number of leaders.
The peloton crosses under the 5km to go banner and the gap is only 1’08”. Red Bull Zalgiris has joined Cedevita in pushing the pace.
Chernetskiy is the first to drop from the breakaway as Azman pushes on. The gap is shortening ever closer and the peloton should be catching the breakaway soon, but no one has attacked yet. It’s 4 wide as everyone is marking each other still. The final switchbacks narrow the gap even more as the breakaway is down to 3 riders. Waeytens and Azman are attacking to the finish, while Antunes attempts to hold off the closing peloton. It’s just 24” from the front two to the peloton. Kämna is on the front there and has decided that he has to do the work himself.
Leading out the peloton is Kämna as they cross the 1km to go with the two leaders still in front. Gaudu is attempting a leadout for Pogacar, while Errazkin is doing the same for Fernandes. Van Niekerk and Storer are also well position as is El Sabbahi. Christodoulos has now dropped but is still pushing an impressive performance.
Waeytens has dropped Azman and is going for the glory alone. The gap is still 19”. It’s Kämna, Van Niekerk and Storer on one side of the peloton now and Gaudu - Pogacar on the opposite edge of the tarmac. The Red Bull train sits behind and between them hoping Fernandes can get the win.
The catch is made! Heartbreaking for Waeytens who did everything in their power to end the day at the top of the podium. It’s still Kämna leading the way with Storer and Pogacar in prime position to overtake.
Pogacar jumps ahead with a huge burst of speed and no one seems able to match. Kämna and Waeytens are holding strong with Gaudu also ready to take a top spot after his leadout. Fernandes appears to have some speed, but it might be too late. The same is true for Storer. There’s still 30 riders left in this front group, but splits could be called at almost any point on the line.
Pogacar posts up well before the line to celebrate a win on the fourth stage of the Tour of Norway. A fantastic sprint for the win! Kämna finishes a strong 2nd after making the most attacks of anyone in the peloton.
Gaudu makes it two riders from Cedevita in the top 3 and grabs bonus seconds from the remaining rivals. Fernandes is a close fourth.
The remaining members of the top 10 are Errazkin who also gets Red Bull Zalgiris two top 5 finishers(5th), Waeytens holding on from the breakaway (6th), Borisavljevic (7th), Uwizeyimana (8th), Meurisse (9th), and Hagen Hagen. Dennis is 11th.
The remaining top 20 finsihers are Storer (12th), Bratashcuk (13th), Gregaard (14th), Van Niekerk who faded late (15th), Dunbar (16th), Brown (17th), Prevar (18th), Herrada (19th) and Azman fighting all the way to the line. All 20 get the same time on the line, meaning GC will come down to who was best positioned after the time trial!
Gonzalez Salas relishes his last moments in the leaders jersey after losing over 6 minutes on the stage. Our final riders cross the line about 18 minutes back from the stage winner. The question remains, who will be wearing the jersey tomorrow.
Pogacar takes the podium for the stage win! He also qualifies in the young rider competition, but will have to share that jersey tomorrow.
Dennis grabs the leader’s jersey. Just 8 seconds ahead of Dunbar. It’ll be a close GC battle tomorrow, but it’s not clear whether the stage is hard enough for major gaps. Fernandes sits in 3rd, ready for a great result for Red Bull Zalgiris!
Tour of Norway – Stage 4 
