Kristoff battles his way to another Top 10 finish for UAE Team Emirates

After yesterday’s Team Time Trial, UAE Team Emirates were back road racing in Stage 4 of this year’s Tour de France as they headed out on a flat 195km route from La Baule to Sarzeau, which was made for the power men in the pack. The team stayed safe towards the front of the peloton for the entirety of the race, protecting Dan Martin and putting Alexander Kristoff in a good place for the finish. In the final kilometres Kristoff showed his strength by battling hard at the front of the race to take seventh spot in a hotly contested bunch sprint.

Commenting on today’s result, Kristoff said: “I was in quite a good position and I came from behind with good speed. I knew this could be dangerous but I tried to go and I lost a little bit of rhythm when I started, then it’s always difficult. I had to stop pedalling two times in the last three hundred meters and I never really got up to full speed so I finished in seventh place. I was hoping for better, but there’s a lot of good sprinters here so I need to do things better next time”.

Tomorrow’s stage 5 will be a hilly affair, as the peloton takes on a 204.5km course from Lorient – Quimper. The first half of the race is relatively flat, as it traces the beaches around Pont-Aven and Concarneau before heading inland towards Saint-Goazec and hitting a series of short but brutal climbs on narrow and technical roads. The finishing straight is slightly uphill, which will favour the punchy sprinters in the bunch that have made it safely over the final climbs at the front of the pack.

Stage Four Results
1 Fernando Gaviria (Col) – Quick-Step Floors 4:25:01
2 Peter Sagan (Slo) – BORA – hansgrohe “
3 Andre Greipel (Ger) – Lotto Soudal “
7 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) – UAE Team Emirates “

General Classification Standings
1 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) – BMC Racing Team 13:33:56
2 Teejay Van Garderen (USA) – BMC Racing Team “
3 Geraint Thomas (GBr) – Team Sky +00:03
32 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) – UAE Team Emirates +01:38
33 Dan Martin (Ire) – UAE Team Emirates “