Tour de France 2023 stage 4 preview: Route map and profile of 182km from Dax to Nogaro
The sprinters will get another chance to go for glory at the 2023 Tour de France as Tuesday’s stage four offers a flat route and fast finish.
The 182km route begins in Dax, a small town in south-west France, before heading east across Landes to the region of Gers. There is an intermediate sprint in the middle of the stage for those hunting green jersey points, although it is unclear whether anyone in the peloton is dedicated to winning the points classification – the green jersey may well end up on the shoulders of whichever top sprinter makes it to Paris by default rather than design.
There is one categorised climb near the finish, the Cote de Demu (2km at 3.5%) and the latter half of the stage is a little lumpy, but not enought to deter any sprinters from reach the finish.
In Nagaro, the Circuit Paul Armagnac awaits. After stage three’s controversy – Jumbo-Visma were not impressed by the finish to the course in Bayonne, which contained a bend perilously close to the line – there will be no drama here. The riders will enter the circuit via narrow funnel with just over 2km remaining, and work their way around the track to the long home straight where they could well have a 700m drag race.
Of course there will be plenty of cat and mouse games to be played by the sprinters here. Can Alpecin-Deceuninck pull off another perfectly timed leadout train using Mathieu van der Poel to set up stage three winner Jasper Philipsen? Philipsen will certainly fancy his chances of winning another stage, but so too will Caleb Ewan, Dylan Groenewegen, Fabio Jakobsen and the other fast men in the peloton. Germany’s Phil Bauhaus finished second on stage three and showed his stage-winning potential.
British eyes will be on Mark Cavendish, who finished sixth in Bayonne and looked competitive. He is chasing a historic 35th stage win at the Tour de France, which would move him one clear of the great Eddy Merckx.
Cavendish has the racing nous to handle a shootout like this one but perhaps lacks the calibre of teammate that Philipsen can call upon, so the Manxman will need to be strategic and perhaps surf some wheels to get in position in the final 100m where he has been so devastating in the past.
For the general classification contenders like Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and the yellow jersey of Adam Yates, it is a day to stay out of trouble and keep the legs as fresh as possible before the Tour de France takes off for the high Pyrenees.
Stage 4 route map and profile
Start time
The stage is set to begin at around 12pm BST and is expected to finish at around 4.30pm BST.
Prediction
A sprinter, but which one? Philipsen will fancy getting another stage under his belt but I fancy someone else this time. My heart says Mark Cavendish, but my head says Caleb Ewan.
