Preview: 2014 Tour de France — Stage 4

Le Touquet-Paris-Plage to Lille (163.5km)

Tuesday, July 8th 7:50 a.m. – 11:14 a.m. EDT

The Tour arrives on French soil for a stage that will take the peloton from Le Touquet-Paris-Plage to Lille. Expect a stage that is tightly controlled for the benefit of the sprinters. That’s one of the characteristics of modern cycling, even if race organizers would prefer races to be more unpredictable. However, the riders best placed in the overall classification will want to do all they can to maintain their position, especially as this will decide the line-up of the team directors’ cars behind the peloton in the next day’s stage. This is an important detail to bear in mind in the event of a mechanical issue occurring on the 15.4km of cobbles that feature on the stage that lies ahead.