TDF Pool: Standings after Stage 4

Today’s summit finish in Orcières-Merlette was the first big test of the Tour, and the first big shakeup in the Tour Pool.

Stalwart entrant 33 km/h squeaked out a high-scoring stage win by two point over Rocky’s Eggs, and we again had a tie for third place with See you in Paris?, Viperdude, BringBackJan, and Rich&Cath — all long-time entrants — just five points farther back.

TDF Stage 4: Roglic emerges

Primoz Roglic has been touted as a future Tour winner for a while, and today he passed the first real test to determine if this will be his year by winning the summit finish at Orcières-Merlette.

After finishing fourth in 2018, last year Roglic rode the Giro (3rd overall) and the Vuelta (winner) instead, gaining valuable experience that he will help him in this strange year. He seems to have bounced back from a crash that saw him abandon the Dauphiné a couple weeks ago, and importantly he has the support of a very strong Jumbo-Visma team who set such a suffocating tempo on today’s final climb that nobody else could muster an attack.

Tour Pool standings after Stage 4

It’s two in a row for tebemz as they racked up another 68 points to boost their total to 198 points and extend their overall lead from five points to 16.

Chiroman and PAUL G round out the stage podium, both tied on 61 points, lifting PAUL G into second overall, with Chiroman slotting into a tie for third with France In My Pants just five points further back.

Meanwhile, at the nether regions of the standings, Caromb continues to hold down the Lanterne Rouge position, but it’s a precarious one after they earned three points on the stage.

Martin wins stage and yellow jersey

The stars finally aligned for Tony Martin today, with the German not only winning Stage 4 but also moving into the overall lead at the Tour de France.

After finishing second in the Stage 1 time trial Martin made the front group in the crosswinds the next day and would have taken yellow, only his Etixx teammate Mark Cavendish blew the sprint, allowing Cancellara to take a 4″ time bonus that put him 1″ ahead of Martin. Then, on the Mur de Huy one day later, and with Cancellara out of contention, Chris Froome took 39″ out of Martin to take yellow — again by a 1″ second margin once time bonuses were factored in.