Etoile: Still Up in the Air!

Stage 4 sprint keeps the race up for grabs. Stephane Poulhies was the one with his arms in the air today but we still have no clue who it will be tomorrow...

Thanks to an unexpected sprint finish on what was supposed to be the deciding stage there are still over 50 riders within 30 seconds of the leaders (yes I said leaderS) and everything is still "up in the air."

But what is decided for sure is stage 4. That honor belongs to Stephane Poulhies, who outsprinted Marco Marcato and Justin Jules to the line for the win.

But how on earth did this finish in a sprint?

Well, it's hard to say. The field was absolutely obliterated on the climb and countless guys tried to launch attacks but everything just fell into place at the end and a large peloton was formed.

But even more importantly, Anthony Ravard and Johnny Hoogerland were in that peloton and finished at -s/t. But thanks to an earlier bonus sprint Ravard picked up a second on Hoogerland and reclaimed the GC lead, and he will take his 0 second lead into the final stage tomorrow. Yes, 0 seconds. But it's not just Ravard and Hoogerland. Marco Marcato (who has top 3 finishes in the past 2 stages) waits just 2 seconds behind along with FDJ's Pierrick Fedrigo lingering just 8 behind. There's a whole mess of guys 13 back, including AG2R's Maxime Bouet and young superstar Jerome Coppel. Powerful Bjorne Leukemans hangs just 21 behind and everybody up to 52nd is within 34.

Stage Results

1. Stephane Poulhies

2. Marco Marcato

3. Justin Jules

General Classification

1. Anthony Ravard

2. Johnny Hoogerland -0

3. Marco Marcato -2

4. Pierrick Fedrigo -8

5. Cyril Gautier -13

6. Steven Tronet -13

7. Maxime Bouet -13

8. Arthur Vichot -13

9. Jerome Coppel -13

10. Yauheni Hutarovich -18

Points

Anthony Ravard

KOM

Bram Schmitz

Team

Vacansoleil-DCM