News Round-up: Crash-marred finale to stage 4 of the Tour de France

After the controversy following the finale of stage 3, the conclusion to stage 4 of the Tour de France was marked with the same chaotic frenzy as the sprinters battled it out once again. Crashes also helped to define the day at the Giro d’Italia Donne, where a surprise stage victor came to the fore on the Queen stage. Elsewhere, we have the result from the Tour of Austria, and news regarding Geraint Thomas and potential signings for Lidl-Trek. All that and more in today's News Edition.

| Jasper Philipsen makes it two from two at the Tour de France

In a crash-filled finale to stage 4 of the Tour de France, it was Alpecin-Deceuninck and Jasper Philipsen who emerged without a scratch to win his second stage in succession and pull on the green jersey.

Velo Collection (TDW)/Getty Images

Caleb Ewan appeared the faster of the pair, but Jasper Philipsen benefitted from Mathieu van der Poel’s slingshot

In a largely subdued stage dubbed by Philipsen as “really easy” the peloton rode most of the day together with few candidates showing themselves to form a breakaway. Eventually, it was down to Anthony Delaplace (Arkéa-Samsic) and Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroën) to head up the road and spend 60km as the leading duo, but they were caught with 25km to ride as the peloton prepared for a sprint finish.

The pace picked up as they approached the Nogaro motor circuit, but after turning onto the track 2.4km from the line, crashes and chaos ensued with the likes of Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-Quick Step) and Jacopo Guarnieri (Lotto Dstny) hitting the deck. It was Alpecin-Deceuninck who took advantage of the confusion and delivered Jasper Philipsen with a perfect lead-out courtesy of the phenomenal Mathieu van der Poel.

Beating Caleb Ewan (Lotto Dstny) by half a wheel length, Philipsen took his second stage victory of the race, with Bahrain Victorious’ Phil Bauhaus rounding out the podium to produce the first three finishers as yesterday.

Alluding to the frenzied nature of the final kilometres, Philipsen said: “It was a hectic final with the turns in the end and I lost my team as well. In the final straight, I found Mathieu van der Poel again and he did an amazing pull to get me to [the] victory, but my legs were cramping and Caleb [Ewan] was coming close!”

If you missed any of the action today, we have got a full race replay waiting for you to watch on GCN+ right now. We’ll also have long and short-form highlights for you later tonight, which you will find in the ‘highlights’ tab.

| Antonia Niedermaier takes the biggest victory of her career on stage 5 of Giro Donne

Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon//SRAM) sprung a great surprise on stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia Donne, holding off Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar)in the final kilometres to win alone in Ceres.

Dubbed the Queen stage of this year’s Giro Donne, the GC action kicked off with less than 20km ridden, as Van Vleuten launched her first attack on the Cima Coppi Passo del Lupo (15.7km at 6.6%) and shattered the peloton to pieces. Over the summit, Van Vleuten was joined by Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) and the leading duo became a quartet when Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) bridged across on the descent.

The likes of Mavi García (Liv Racing TeqFind) and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-SUEZ) were among the favourites to have missed out as a chasing group coalesced around Niedermaier, Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ), Marta Cavalli (FDJ-SUEZ), Juliette Labous (dsm-firmenich) and Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ). The front four were joined by their chasers with 35km to ride.

Velo Collection (TDW)/Getty Images

Only 20 years of age, Antonia Niedermaier has a bright future

Attacking on the penultimate climb, Niedermaier was able to extend her advantage on the descent and forced Van Vleuten and Longo Borghini to dispatch their companions on the day’s final categorised climb. Both Van Vleuten and Longo Borghini crashed on the descent to Ceres, but it was Longo Borghini who came worse off and tumbled out of GC contention.

Van Vleuten’s lead now stands at 2:07 over new second place Niedermaier, with Veronica Ewers (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) a further 11 seconds back and Labous in fourth the only other woman within three minutes of the maglia rosa.

| Neilson Powless: We definitely have the focus on the Pyrenees, both for the KOM jersey and to get a stage win

After a sobering opening day of the Tour de France for EF Education-EasyPost that saw them lose team leader Richard Carapaz to a nasty crash, their solace was found in the exploits of American starlet and polka-dot hunter, Neilson Powless.

“The Tour de France is the biggest bike race in the world and I grew up watching it, with the polka dot jersey always riding at the front of the race,” Powless said after securing the KoM lead on stage 1. “Now I get to wear that jersey. I’ve fulfilled a childhood dream. We knew it was a possibility, yet not an easy one as we needed many things to come together.”

No doubt with eyes on competing for the polka-dot jersey until Paris, Powless has been in breakaways on stages 2 and 3 in an effort to accumulate points, but knows that the real battle will begin once the race gets to the Pyrenees.

“We definitely have the focus on the Pyrenees, both for the KOM jersey and to get a stage win. Several teammates of mine have been resting up these days, so hopefully, we will be able to pull something off,” he said.

Velo Collection (TDW)/Getty Images

A man with top 10 hopes for the future, Neilson Powless’ 2023 Tour de France looks set to be one full of breakaways

“I’m already in love with this polka-dot jersey,” admitted Powless. “I fell immediately in love with it, indeed. Let’s see how long I can wear it.” As our resident statistician, Cillian Kelly reported on the GCN App, three stages in the polka-dot jersey is already the longest stint that any American has ever spent leading the KoM classification. For how much longer can Neilson extend his record?

| Jhonatan Narváez makes it two in two at the Tour of Austria

Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers) carried on his dominance at the Tour of Austria to take his second victory in two days and extend his lead of the race on stage 3.

Following a second place on the opening stage and a victory yesterday, Narváez headed into stage 3 wearing the leader’s jersey and over the course of a punchy finale to the day, he was able to break clear of his rivals and arrive at the finish alongside Welay Hasgos Berhe (Jayco AlUla). The Ethiopian has been a star of the Tour of Austria thus far, but was unable to pip Narváez in a sprint, and the Ecuadorian extended his lead to 28 seconds and 32 seconds over Jesús David Peña (Jaycol AlUla) and George Bennett (UAE Team Emirates), respectively.

The Tour of Austria has two stages left over which Narváez must fend off competition to secure his first stage race victory since the 2020 Coppi e Bartali.

| Fabio Jakobsen calls for safer Tour de France stage finishes before crash

Stages 3 and 4 offered the first two opportunities to the sprinters at this year’s Tour de France, but both came with their own challenges that made the run to the line anything but simple in Bayonne and Nogaro, respectively. In response, Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-Quick Step) has called for simpler route designs to maximise the safety of riders.

“We can have long kilometres for finishes, just don’t use a downhill, don’t use a left, right in the last five hundred metres,” argued the Dutch sprinter.

Bemoaning the chicane finish to stage 3 that almost saw Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) collide, Jakobsen spoke with frustration to GCN’s Matt Stephens before the start of stage 4.

“It’s a bit stupid I think. It’s not nice for the race. You get a fight for the positioning and then [riders move] right-left-right, which is just dangerous. I understand why they do it because they want to win and probably we should do the same [in order to win], but it’s just not nice for cycling,” vented Jakobsen.

Velo Collection (TDW)/Getty Images

Fans were relieved to see Jakobsen back up on his feet relatively quickly after the crash

Unfortunately for Jakobsen, the Soudal-Quick Step sprinter fell victim to the chaotic nature of stage 4’s finale and hit the deck in a crash. He was able to rise to his feet and cycle over the line, but was sporting rips to the right-hand side of his skinsuit.

| Geraint Thomas announces the publication of new book

Geraint Thomas has partnered up with Quercus Publishing for a fourth time to release his latest book, Great Rides According to G, set to be published on 26 October.

Written in partnership with Tom Fordyce, who has worked on Thomas’ previous books, Quercus says that the new release will take the reader “on the training rides, races and journeys closest to [Thomas’] heart”.

Thomas’ previous three books, The World of Cycling According to G (2016), The Tour According to G (2019) and Mountains According to G (2022) were also ghostwritten by British sports journalist and co-host of The Geraint Thomas Cycling Club podcast, Tom Fordyce. The pair will accompany the book’s publication with a two-date live tour in London and Cardiff on November 6 and November 7, with tickets on sale now.

Still a member of the team now known as Ineos Grenadiers, Thomas has added the Tour de France to his palmarès since releasing his first book, along with two podium finishes in Paris and a runner-up spot in this year’s Giro d’Italia.

Prior to publication, fans of Geraint Thomas will be able to watch the Welshman race at La Vuelta a España, each stage of which is live and ad-free on GCN+ (territory restrictions apply).

| Lidl-Trek look set to bolster Italian contingent for the 2024 campaign

Bolstered by the introduction of Lidl as title sponsor, American team Lidl-Trek are reportedly close to adding three notable Italian riders to their roster for 2024. After the news of Jonathan Milan’s (Bahrain Victorious) impending transfer broke earlier this season, La Gazzetta dello Sport has also linked Simone Consonni (Cofidis) and Andrea Bagioli (Soudal-Quick Step) with the team.

La Gazzetta’s Ciro Scognamiglio tweeted on Tuesday morning that he expects both riders to join Lidl-Trek for 2024, alongside Milan.

The transfers would add to Lidl-Trek’s dynamic squad that often goes into Grand Tours looking to hunt for stages, but a slight reorientation may be in order next season. GCN exclusively broke the news that Tao Geoghegan Hart is set to leave Ineos Grenadiers and sign for Lidl-Trek at the end of the season, with the British rider a Grand Tour winner in his own right and a man who will no doubt challenge for more three-week titles.

Velo Collection (TDW)/Getty Images

Simone Consonni has flirted with becoming a pure sprinter in the past, but his climbing legs ensure the Italian remains a versatile rider

With Consonni and Bagioli, however, Lidl-Trek will be gaining versatile riders who will be as valuable in one-day races as they may be in stage races. Bagioli is an adept climber with victories at the Drôme Classic and La Volta a Catalunya, whilst Consonni is a punchy rider who may be useful to sprinter Jonathan Milan as a lead-out man.

| Arnaud Démare linked with Arkéa-Samsic as Nacer Bouhanni considers retirement

As reported by L’Équipe on Tuesday morning, Groupama-FDJ sprinter Arnaud Démare may be on the move to fellow French team Arkéa-Samsic in 2024. The former Milan-Sanremo winner is widely reported to be leaving Marc Madiot’s squad following his exclusion from their Tour de France roster.

Favouring the climbing talents of David Gaudu and Thibaut Pinot, Madiot saw no room for Démare and his lead-out to go in search of sprint victories at the Tour. It was perhaps the final straw in a relationship that has soured since Démare and Gaudu’s public falling out at the beginning of the season. With Arkéa-Samsic likely to welcome the sponsorship of B&B Hotels ahead of the 2024 campaign, signing Démare looks like a wise move by the team.

A three-time French national champion, Démare has often dominated the sprints at the Giro d’Italia, leading him to eight stage wins and two points classification victories to date. Twice a stage winner at the Tour de France, the 31-year-old would be a natural replacement for Nacer Bouhanni (Arkéa-Samsic), who L’Équipe report is considering hanging up his cleats come the end of the season.

From an octopus’ garden in the shade, it is time to bid adieu. Until the next time.