Pedersen caps Lidl-Trek masterclass as Traeen takes yellow on Tour stage 4

Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) won stage 4 of the Tour de France from the breakaway in Foix ahead of Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) and Raúl García Pierna (Movistar).

Having made a 34-rider breakaway earlier in the stage, Pedersen made the final selection of ten riders over the final categorised climb with 35km remaining. 

Lidl-Trek held the numerical advantage with Pedersen, Quinn Simmons, and Mathias Vacek all present. The German team had to make the most of their numbers to neutralise the attacks launched in particular by the Movistar duo, Pablo Castrillo and García Pierna, who were relentless in their efforts inside the final 10km.

However, Simmons and Vacek were able to keep everything under control to set up a sprint finish for Pedersen, where the Dane duly delivered, launching his sprint early and opening up metres on the competition. Simmons had time to celebrate his teammate's success as Lidl-Trek completed a 1-2 finish.

Torstein Træen (Uno-X Mobility) was the highest-placed GC rider to make the final selection, starting the day in 24th place, 5:34 behind Tadej Pogačar.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG, who controlled the peloton predominantly through Nils Politt and Florian Vermeersch, appeared entirely content to give the yellow jersey away, and Træen was the rider who moved into the race lead.

This marks the second Grand Tour leader’s jersey of Træen’s career following the 2025 Vuelta a España, where the Norwegian wore the red jersey for four stages en route to finishing ninth overall. 

An initial group of 14 riders went clear, including Lidl-Trek duo Mads Pedersen and Mathias Vacek, before it swelled in size to create a 34-strong move off the front.

In typical fashion, Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) set the tempo in the peloton for the first half of the stage, keeping the breakaway’s advantage under control.

There was a heavyweight battle from the breakaway for the intermediate sprint in Quillan with Biniam Girmay (NSN) coming out on top, claiming twenty-five points, ahead of Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin–Premier Tech) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), who claimed twenty points and sixteen points respectively.

Following the sprint, Philipsen and Girmay dropped back from the breakaway as the category 2 Col de Coudons began with 87km remaining. 

On the lower slopes of the climb with 84km to go, Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) and Jan Tratnik (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) pushed on from the breakaway, and by the crest, they had established an advantage of just under a minute. 

Behind them, a crash disrupted the peloton, with Jake Stewart (NSN) among the fallers. The British rider underwent concussion protocol checks before successfully remounting.

Alex Kirsch (Cofidis) jumped from the chasing pack to the front duo, bridging a gap of over twenty seconds with little under 70km to go, while in the peloton, it now appeared that UAE Team Emirates-XRG were content to give away the yellow jersey, wioth the gap growing accordingly. Tratnik and Kirsch pulled on the front, while Vacek played the team card, with Pedersen and Simmons behind.

While the front trio held an advantage of around a minute for a prolonged spell, the chasing group managed to slash the advantage ahead of the final climb with EF Education-EasyPost, significant contributors to the chase. 

Kirsch was distanced by Vacek and Tratnik on the lower slopes of the Col de Montségur with 42km remaining. Just two kilometres later, the leading duo was also reeled in, courtesy of a fierce pace set by Michael Valgren (EF Education-EasyPost) that splintered the front group.

With 38.5km to go, Valgren's teammate Sean Quinn launched an acceleration, triggering a counter-attack from Ramses Debruyne. Quinn Simmons immediately jumped to the front to set a steady tempo, attempting to nullify the moves and keep a struggling Pedersen in the select ten-rider group.

However, Movistar wanted to make things more selective, with both Pablo Castrillo and Raul Garcia Pierna launching attacks of their own, and Debruyne active once more. 

Castrillo struck again on the steepest section just a kilometre from the summit. At the summit, he was joined by Marco Frigo (NSN), Debruyne, García Pierna, and Træen.

Simmons and Vacek stayed with Pedersen to help bring the Dane back to the front of the race with the final categorised climb now behind them, and Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost) and Kévin Vauquelin (Netcompany-Ineos) tagged along.

Inside the final 30km, a nine-rider chasing pack hovered around 50 seconds adrift, which included Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla), but the gap was too wide to close, and the stage would be contested between the front ten.