Région Pays de la Loire Tour 2024: Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) wins stage 4 ahead of Benoît Cosnefroy of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale (Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Benoit Cosnefroy of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team fights on the back wheel of Marijn van den Berg of EF Education-EasyPost in the sprint to the finish line(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Ben Healy works for EF Education-EasyPost teammate Marijn van den Berg on the finishing circuit(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Benoit Cosnefroy of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team attacked on the final circuit(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
The peloton climbs past large crowds of cheering fans on Côte de Gazonfier and its steep incline that has pitches more than 13%, with a section (Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
On the penultimate climb of Cote de Gazonfier on finish circuits, Johannes Kulset of Uno-X Mobility and Samuel Watson of Groupama-FDJ attacked(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Riders passing through Le Mans city during the Region Pays de la Loire Tour on stage 4(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
The five-rider breakaway includes (L to R): Mark Stewart of Team Corratec-Vini Fantini, Norman Vahtra of Van Rysel-Roubaix, Paul Hennequin of Nice Metropolé Côte dAzur, Clément Alleno of Burgos-BH and Matisse Julien of CIC U Nantes Atlantique, wearing the Mountain Jersey(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
A long, strung-out peloton competes across 174.9km on stage 4 from Marolles-les-Braults to Le Mans(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Lorrenzo Manzin of TotalEnergies rides in front of Samuel Watson (Groupama-FDJ), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) during stage 4 to Le Mans(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Ewen Costiou (Arkéa-BB Hotels) rides in the peloton in the Yellow leader jersey alongside Darren Rafferty of EF Education-EasyPost(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
EF Education-EasyPost team celebration (L to R): Darren Rafferty of Ireland, Irish champion Ben Healy, stage and GC winner Marijn van den Berg of The Netherlands and Lukas Nerurkar of United Kingdom(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) claimed his second stage win of the race on stage 4 and took the overall victory at the Région Pays de la Loire Tour after a thrilling fight on the punchy 174.9km route from Marolles-les-Braults to Le Mans.
The Dutchman celebrated over the line after he kicked away from Clément Venturini (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), who took third, and narrowly held off a charge from Benoît Cosnefroy (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) in second.
Van den Berg benefitted from great work by teammate Ben Healy in the finale as the Irish champion kept the pace high, chased down a late attack from the pre-stage race leader Ewen Costiou (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and had enough to complete a leadout.
Van den Berg moved into the race leader’s yellow jersey at the last after starting the fourth stage just one second behind Costiou to claim both his sixth and seventh pro victories and first overall GC win.
The Dutchman actually moved into the virtual lead earlier in the day after taking three bonus seconds in Vivoin at one of the intermediate sprint points, but his stage win highlighted his versatility as much more than just a sprinter.
“I didn’t do it by myself, that’s for sure! This win is more a team victory than one of my own,” Van den Berg said on the team’s website.
“I’ve never seen anything like it before, how we pulled that off as a team.”
Van den Berg went on to credit the work done all day by Jardi van der Lee, Darren Rafferty and Lukas Nerurkar to both position him for the intermediate sprint and final few laps but highlighted Healy as the top supporter on the day.
“Everybody put in the same effort today and then Ben did a really incredible lead-out,” Van den Berg said. “I just did the sprint, that was the only thing I had to do.”
As the riders hit the punchy local lap around Le Mans for the first time, several attacks flew off the front with the likes of Sam Watson (Groupama-FDJ), Healy and Clément Alleno (Burgos-BH) involved.
EF tried to control the final 20km but after the bell rang for the final time with three riders still up the road, carnage broke out on the final ascent of the Côte de Gazonfier climbs with Alexandre Delettre (St Michel - Mavic - Auber93) and Venturini trying to attack away from the men in pink.
Benoît Cosnefroy (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) countered over the top but he was quickly caught as Healy’s took control in the green, white and gold jersey.
Van den Berg stayed in Healy's wheel from 4.3km to go until the final 350 metres with a nine-man group set to play out the final. The key for the Dutchman was that fellow fast man Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) and stage 3 winner Alberto Dainese (Tudor) both dropped in the frantic run for home leaving him as the clear fastest.
The 24-year-old continued his great 2024 season in France after taking his second Worldour win at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. His teammate Healy looks to be approaching his top form before heading back to the Ardennes Classics in the coming weeks where he took second at Amstel Gold and fourth at Liège-Bastogne-Lège in 2023.
James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
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