Tour de France 2025: summary of the fourth stage, won by Tadej Pogacar

Do the Tours de France follow one another and look alike? Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), the big favorite for the 2025 Tour de France, won the fourth stage, 174.2 kilometers long, between Amiens and Rouen, on Tuesday, July 8. At 26, the Slovenian ogre , already a three-time winner of the Tour de France, won his eighteenth victory in the Tour de France and his hundredth career victory. He beat the Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in the sprint, who retained his yellow jersey based on the addition of places (the two riders are in the same time), and the Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).

Winner in 2020, 2021, and 2024, Tadej Pogacar appears to be the overwhelming favorite to succeed him. The UAE leader attacked on the Saint-Hilaire ramp (800m at 10.6%), losing his toughest competitors with just a few pedal strokes, with the exception of Vingegaard. The Slovenian then beat his great rival from the Classics, Mathieu van der Poel, in a sprint. Enough to approach the rest of the hostilities with full confidence, surrounded by solid teammates.

This time, four riders tried their luck. After a day without a breakaway—but not without a crash—French rider Thomas Gachignard (TotalEnergies) and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), Norwegian Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), and Danish rider Kasper Asgreen (EF Education-EasyPost) were largely isolated during this fourth stage, which was divided into two parts. The first, completely flat, allowed them to devour the kilometers in the lead, around two minutes ahead of the peloton.

But things became more complicated for the four escapees as obstacles mounted. Faced with a succession of climbs—five were on the agenda in the final fifty kilometers, two category three, three category four—their lead evaporated, and there was little doubt that their attempt was doomed. But Lenny Martinez wasn't about to give up without a fight. The last member of the initial breakaway, the 21-year-old Frenchman managed to cross the Belbeuf hill in the lead, 27 kilometers from the finish, but eventually surrendered shortly after.

Victory was then promised to a big shot, and in particular to Tadej Pogacar, when the Slovenian attacked on the Saint-Hilaire ramp, the last difficulty of the day, short (800 meters) but very steep. Although he was caught by his eternal rival Jonas Vingegaard and then, on the descent towards the finish, by the rest of the leaders, the world champion had kept enough energy to play the sprint, and beat Mathieu van der Poel at the last minute, who will console himself by saying that he has at least kept his yellow jersey.

This is the astonishing total of career victories for Tadej Pogacar, the active rider with the most wins (stages, stage races, and one-day races). He is ahead of Frenchman Arnaud Démare and Norwegian Alexander Kristoff, who both have 97 victories. The Slovenian, however, remains well behind the record held by "Cannibal" Eddy Merckx, who had between 251 and 525 victories (depending on the method of calculation) between 1965 and 1978.

"I was aiming for the stage, but unfortunately the peloton decided otherwise. But I'm going to try again. I'll try to slip back into the breakaways in the coming days."