The fourth stage took the peloton from Le Puy-en-Velay to Montrond-les-Bains. Right from the start, the riders faced several categorized climbs. A long battle unfolded before the day’s breakaway was established, but eventually twelve riders succeeded in breaking away from the peloton.  

One day after its victory in the team time trial, Team Visma | Lease a Bike once again set its sights on success. The yellow-and-black squad took responsibility for chasing down the breakaway. After a long pursuit, the peloton closed the gap to around ten seconds, but the leaders impressively held on in the final kilometers. The ten remaining breakaway riders sprinted for the stage win, with Simmons coming out on top. Shortly afterward, Van Aert was the fastest rider in the bunch sprint. The 31-year-old Belgian finished eleventh.  

“The breakaway was very strong today,” Van Aert said afterward. “As a team, we did our part in the chase. My teammates put in a tremendous effort, but we just couldn’t catch the breakaway. In the end, I was the fastest rider in the peloton, but of course that doesn’t mean much. What I’ll take away from today is that I felt good on the bike and that we once again showed ourselves as a team.”  

“After a tough start, it was difficult to gain control of the race,” sports director Maarten Wynants reflected. “Once the breakaway had gone clear, it wasn’t easy to organize the chase effectively. We did everything we could as a team, but in the end, we came up just short. Tomorrow offers another opportunity on a similar course, although we will also continue to focus on the general classification.”