Stage 4 of the Tour de France gave the 176-rider peloton a bit of a breather, as a three-man escape dominated what was expected to be a bunch sprint. The trio of Frederik Backaert and Yoann Offredo (Wanty-Gobert) and Michael Schär (CCC Team) were kept at a reasonable distance all day before the field came together with 16km to go.
Deceuninck-QuickStep made it two for two, following up race leader Julian Alaphilippe's victory with a finely tuned execution of the lead-out for Elia Viviani, who claimed the stage by a wheel over Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates).
Alaphilippe kept the maillot jaune heading into what is expected to be one for attackers, with two tough climbs in the final 35km. It could be another day for Alaphilippe.
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