FOIX, France (AP) 鈥� Danish rider Mads Pedersen surged away in a sprint finish to win the fourth stage of the on Tuesday, and Norwegian rider Torstein Traeen took the yellow jersey from defending Tour champion Tadej Pogacar.
Pedersen attacked with 300 meters (yards) left and was well clear when he crossed the line ahead of American rider Quinn Simmons, his Lidl-Trek teammate, and Spaniard Raul Garcia.
鈥淭his was for sure a masterpiece in teamwork,” Pedersen said, praising his teammates for putting him in position to contest the win. 鈥淭hey worked like machines. What a team effort and what a team win today.鈥�
It was a third career stage win on the Tour for Pedersen, a powerful rider who is a former world road race champion.
Traeen finished in eighth place and was far ahead of four-time Tour champion Pogacar, who did not contest the stage victory.
Pogacar was in the main pack along with two-time champion Jonas Vingegaard, his main rival. They both rolled in 12 minutes, 59 seconds behind Traeen after nearly 4 1/2 hours in the saddle.
Traeen, who rides for Uno-X Mobility, is just under eight minutes ahead of them in the overall standings.
鈥淭o be honest, I can鈥檛 believe it. I can feel it鈥檚 real but it鈥檚 quite hard for me to understand how big this is,鈥� the 30-year-old Traeen said. 鈥淭he Tour is the biggest race in the world and I will enjoy the jersey for as long as possible. I hope I can keep it for quite some time now.鈥�
That might prove difficult, however.
Traeen is not a contender for overall victory and could lose the yellow jersey as early as Thursday, when the race hits the high Pyrenees mountains on Stage 6.
Pogacar took the yellow jersey from Vingegaard after winning Monday’s . It featured the first major mountain climb of the three-week race, which ends on July 26 in Paris.
Stage 4 featured four moderate climbs on a 182-kilometer (113-mile) trek from Carcassonne to Foix in the Occitania region of southwestern France. With sweltering temperatures hitting 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit), Tour organizers allowed for extra feeding zones during the stage, giving riders more frequent access to water bottles.
鈥淲e just have to live with the heat, and do what you can to cool down,鈥� Pedersen said. 鈥淲hen we are talking about team effort, we are not talking of riders only. There are many people of our team on the roadside, waiting to give bottles and ice sockets to help us deal with the heat.鈥�
With 50 kilometers left, a trio was in front: Mathias Vacek, Jan Tratnik and Alex Kirsch 鈥� but they were soon caught as a new group of 10 riders formed.
Frenchman K茅vin Vauquelin was the first to make his move, but Pedersen zoomed around him on the outside with blistering speed.
Stage 5 on Wednesday is a mostly flat route suiting sprinters.
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