Stage 4 of the Tour de France Femmes Is Hot, Wet, and Hilly—and a Classics Rider’s Dream
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Start Times: 7:50 a.m.
Estimated Finish Time: 10:20 a.m.
Preview & How to Watch Jersey Contenders Stage-By-Stage Results
After three stages in two days in the Netherlands, the 2024 Tour de France Femmes leaves the country in the midst of Stage 4, headed for Belgium. The day starts in the Belgian town of Valkenburg, taking a loop around the small city before heading south. From there, it heads south, passing Liége, before hooking back up and back into the famed cycling city.
Stage 4: Valkenburg > Liége
122.7 km (76 m) – 1,833 m (6,013 ft) of elevation
How hard is Stage 4 of the Tour de France Femmes?
For the first time in this year’s Tour, the peloton will face more than just flat roads. The hilly Stage 4 is littered with categorized climbs. Eight of them, to be precise. And while all eight of them are short in length, they make up for it in their pitchiness.
The average grades of the final three climbs are 9.4 percent, 7.8 percent, and a leg-busting 11 percent. Given its profile and berg-laden route, Stage 4 will look more like a one-day race than anything else we’ve seen in a women’s Grand Tour.
The climbing starts almost immediately, with a ride up the 1.3 km, 4.9 percent Bemelerberg just after kilometer six. From there, the day will see three more climbs in quick succession. But after kilometer twenty-five, Stage 4 eases off just a bit with a series of rollers over the next fifty or so kilometers. Then, after the intermediate sprint at kilometer sixty-seven, the riders will tackle four more categorized climbs, some of which have been featured in Liége-Bastogne-Liége in the past, before heading into Liége on a slight downhill before a flat finish.
What will the weather be like, and how can it affect the stage?
Hot and wet. With temperatures in the upper eighties and chances of rainfall as high as eighty-two percent, a steamy and slick day should define Stage 4.
Who can win Stage 4?
Though Stage 4 is loaded with climbs and tops out at more than 6,000 feet of elevation, it’s a punchy Classics course more than it is a climber’s course. So expect to see some of the peloton’s one-day specialists at the pointy end of the race.
Visma-Lease a Bike’s Marianne Vos is one of the best one-day racers cycling’s ever seen, so she is our top contender. And that’s not to mention SD Worx-Protime’s Lorena Wiebes, Lidl-Trek’s Elisa Balsamo, and the winner of Stages 1 and 2, Charlotte Kool of team dsm-firmenich-PostNL
How can Stage 4 affect the General Classification?
Regardless of who wins, Stage 4 shouldn’t give anyone an outright stranglehold on the GC competition, as the race margins shouldn’t be huge by the end of the day. However, now that Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) has taken the Yellow Jersey after Stage 3, come tomorrow, she may have to fend off rivals such as Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM) and Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) who are favorites to win the stage and who also have eyes on the overall win. Holding on to the jersey might go a long way in the psychological battle that can play such a role in any Grand Tour.
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