Mads Pedersen won Tour de France stage 4 into Foix with a decisive sprint from the breakaway. The Lidl-Trek rider took the third Tour stage victory of his career and strengthened his hold on the green jersey competition.
Pedersen finished several bike lengths clear after a long day in a large escape. His teammate Quinn Simmons, the US national champion, completed a Lidl-Trek one-two. Raúl García Pierna of Movistar Team took third.
Torstein Træen also emerged as a major winner from the break. The Uno-X Mobility rider, a testicular cancer survivor, placed eighth on the stage and moved into the yellow jersey.
Træen started the day 24th overall, 5:06 behind Tadej Pogačar. The UAE Emirates-XRG leader allowed the move to gain time and finished with the other main contenders 12:59 down.
Pogačar dropped to fourth overall, one place ahead of Jonas Vingegaard. Sean Quinn of EF Education-EasyPost moved up to second overall, on the same time as Træen. Mathias Vacek rose to third.
Mads Pedersen backed by Lidl-Trek numbers
Pedersen owed much of the victory to Simmons and Vacek. Both teammates survived from a huge 54-rider breakaway, which formed very early after repeated attacks.
Lidl-Trek kept three riders in the move when the race became harder on the final climbs. That gave Pedersen protection when others tried to prevent a sprint finish.
Pedersen later called the performance a “masterpiece in team work”. He admitted he suffered on the final climb, but praised Simmons and Vacek for limiting the damage.
He also said his teammates were “machines” on the run to the finish. Their work delivered both the stage win and a commanding points total.
Pedersen now leads the green jersey standings with 103 points. Pogačar had started the day in that competition lead, but Pedersen moved well clear.
Large breakaway shapes stage 4
The stage profile encouraged aggressive racing from the start. Simmons was active immediately, and Lidl-Trek quickly placed riders in the developing move.
An early 14-rider group included Simmons, Pedersen, Vacek, Georg Steinhauser, Kevin Vauquelin, Jasper Stuyven and Frank van den Broek. Another 40 riders then bridged across.
That larger group included Sean Quinn, Michael Matthews, Træen, Jasper Philipsen and Biniam Girmay. Træen was the best-placed rider in the escape before the stage.
Girmay won the intermediate sprint ahead of Philipsen and Pedersen. The result helped the points ambitions of all three riders before the climbing began.
The category 2 Col de Coudons ended the chances of Girmay and Philipsen. Both sprinters lost contact as the break began to split under pressure.
Jan Tratnik and Vacek then opened a gap near the summit, with Alex Kirsch bridging across. They led onto the Col de Montségur, the final climb.
A smaller chase group joined them on that ascent. Simmons and Quinn were both present and looked strong, while more riders regained contact after the summit.
The front group became 10 riders before the finish. Pedersen, Træen, Vacek, Vauquelin, Ramses Debruyne, Marco Frigo, Pablo Castrillo and García Pierna were among them.
Pedersen remained the clear danger, especially with Simmons and Vacek still alongside him. Rivals attacked repeatedly, but Lidl-Trek controlled each attempt.
The work left Pedersen fresh enough for the final sprint. He launched powerfully and never looked threatened, while Simmons held second to underline Lidl-Trek’s dominance.
Simmons said it was satisfying to see the plan succeed for Pedersen. He credited Vacek, Pedersen and the team’s combined strength for a result that proved difficult to beat.