FOIX, France — Danish rider Mads Pedersen surged away in a sprint finish to win the fourth stage of cycling’s Tour de France on Tuesday, and Norwegian rider Torstein Traeen took the yellow jersey from defending Tour champion Tadej Pogacar.
Pedersen attacked with 300 meters left and was well clear when he crossed the line ahead of American rider Quinn Simmons, his Lidl-Trek teammate from Colorado, and Spaniard Raul Garcia.
“This was for sure a masterpiece in teamwork,” Pedersen said, praising his teammates for putting him in position to contest the win. “They worked like machines. What a team effort and what a team win today.”
It was a third career stage win on the Tour for Pedersen, a powerful rider who is a former world road race champion.
Simmons bumped up to 36th place overall.
Traeen finished in eighth place and was far ahead of four-time Tour champion Pogacar, who did not contest the stage victory.
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Pogacar was in the main pack along with two-time champion Jonas Vingegaard, his main rival. They both rolled in 12 minutes, 59 seconds behind Traeen after nearly 4½ hours in the saddle.
Traeen, who rides for Uno-X Mobility, is just under eight minutes ahead of them in the overall standings.
“To be honest, I can’t believe it. I can feel it’s real but it’s quite hard for me to understand how big this is,” the 30-year-old Traeen said. “The Tour is the biggest race in the world and I will enjoy the jersey for as long as possible. I hope I can keep it for quite some time now.”
That might prove difficult, however.
Traeen is not a contender for overall victory and could lose the yellow jersey as early as Thursday, when the race hits the high Pyrenees mountains on Stage 6. Stage 5 on Wednesday is a mostly flat route suiting sprinters.