Our rider finished fifth on the first testing stage of this edition.
Visited for the first time in 1971, when Luis Ocaña crushed all his rivals en route to one of the most dominant wins ever seen at the Tour de France, Orcières-Merlette returned on the race after 31 years. First summit finish of this edition, coming at the end of a stage that featured four other classified climbs, Orcières-Merlette witnessed another strong and composed display of Julian Alaphilippe, who retained the yellow jersey, that he will now sport for the 17th time.
The stage that started from Sisteron was animated by six riders, whose margin was kept in check by Deceuninck – Quick-Step. Our team had also another goal for Tuesday – help Sam Bennett get as many points as possible at the intermediate sprint in Veynes, and the Irish Champion didn’t disappoint. Bennett emerged as the fastest when the bunch passed through there, some three minutes behind the escapees, and is now on equal scores with the green jersey classification leader.
The huge and impressive amount of work of our team paid dividends on the early slopes of Orcières-Merlette (7.1km, 6.7%), where the last survivor of the breakaway was caught. Dries Devenyns and Bob Jungels continued to set the pace until with four kilometers to go, when other teams became more prominent at the front and ramped up the pace. No moves came until with 300 meters remaining, when an acceleration of Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) saw the Slovenian claim the victory.
Fifth at the top, Alaphilippe – who remained in the yellow jersey – took us through the finale of stage 4: “The main goal of our team was to control the race and keep the jersey. The guys did an amazing job and I’m very proud of them. In the end, I would have liked to win, but the tempo was very high in the closing kilometers and I was a bit on the limit. I’m not disappointed, others were just stronger today. On the other hand, having the yellow jersey makes me very happy and relaxed. Every day I spend in it gives me a lot of joy and satisfaction and I hope my run will continue.”
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
