Tour de France Femmes stage 4 preview – A potential spark to ignite the GC battle

The longest stage of the eight-day Tour de France Femmes takes place on July 26, with 177.1 kilometres, 2,400 metres of altitude gain and plenty of potential to shake up the currently tightly packed cluster of overall contenders.

Stage 4 from Cahors to Rodez also presents a prime opportunity for the riders who favour punchy climbs to launch an attack in pursuit of a highly prized stage victory.

FDJ-Suez rider Grace Brown, for one, was quick to point out the stage as a potentially crucial one when asked about the days that stood out beyond the attention-grabbing duo of the Col du Tourmalet and Pau time trial at the end of the race.

"Stage four is going to be quite decisive I think,” Brown, who will be chasing stages and supporting her GC leaders at the race said in the days before the race got underway. “You have a series of quite solid climbs and then you come towards the finish and there is a very steep kicker and then it just drags all the way up to the finish line, a little bit like the Cauberg in Amstel Gold. It's going to be an exciting day."

The hilly route includes five categorised ascents, the final one peaking just 9km from the finish line. First up is the fourth-category Col de Crayssac (2.3km at 4.8%), the crest just 16.5km from the start in Cahors. After that, it's flat through the valley before the race hits a succession of climbs – Côte de Falgeyras (3km at 4%), Côte de Colombiès (6.5km at 4.2%), Côte de Moyrazès (4.6km at 5.5%) and the final categorised climb of the Côte de Lavernhe (2.2km at 7.1%).

Though that is not where the uphill ends. With 5km to go before Rodez, there is a one-kilometre uncategorised climb of Les Landes which will serve as a launchpad to a severe uphill finish, with a 13% gradient in the closing 500 metres before an easing just before the line.

Image 1 of 1

The parcours, combined with the current race situation are likely to combine toward an explosive outcome. SD Worx has taken the majority of the podium placings in the first three stages – five of the nine – so many teams are still searching for a victory, or even top three, as the race reaches its halfway point. On top of that, stage 4 is a prime opportunity before two flatter stages to carve out GC gaps that could put riders on the front foot before they head into the crucial Col du Tourmalet summit finish on stage 7. 

Not that yellow will necessarily change hands, as given the lack of long climbs it’s terrain where Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) could still hold firm in the lead, particularly given her 55-second buffer on nearest rival, Liane Lippert (Movistar). Still, those riders who are hoping to stand on the overall podium at the end of the race are likely to want to start carving out an advantage on others who are still likely to be near the top of the leaderboard after the race has passed by the Pyrenean giant on stage 7's queen stage.

There is now a cluster of seven pre-race favourites 1:05 back from Kopecky among third to ninth spot on the overall rankings, including defending champion Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar), her key rival Demi Vollering (SD Worx), Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal QuickStep), Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez). On top of that, there is another strong group of ten – including Mavi Garcia (Liv Racing TeqFind), Ane Santesteban (Jayco AlUla), Veronica Ewers (EF Education-Tibco-SVB) and Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) – spread over the next 20 seconds in the rankings.

This is the stage, however, where those gaps could start to open up.