Elia Viviani edged the finish after a frenzied last kilometre on stage four, leaving Alexander Kristoff half a wheel behind in second, just ahead of Caleb Ewan and Peter Sagan.
Viviani’s Deceuninck Quick-Step teammate Julian Alaphilippe had the yellow jersey for the 213.5km stage from Reims to Nancy after his stage three victory on Monday.
On the flat stage, the peloton hauled in a breakaway group initially consisting of Michael Schär (CCC), Yoann Offredo (Wanty–Groupe Gobert) and Frederik Backaert (Wanty–Groupe Gobert). Offredo was the first to give way, then Backaert, before Schär was reeled in 16km from the finish as teams began to position themselves for the bunch sprint.
Alaphilippe retains yellow, 20 seconds clear of Belgium’s Wout van Aert, whose Team Jumbo-Visma teammates Steven Kruijswijk and George Bennett are third and fourth overall, 25sec off the lead. Sunweb’s Michael Matthews, ninth on the stage, is fifth in the general classification, while defending champion Geraint Thomas of Team Ineos is seventh, 45sec behind Alaphilippe and five seconds behind his Ineos teammate Egan Bernal, who lies sixth.
Stage four results
1 Elia Viviani (It) Deceuninck Quick-Step 5:09:20
2 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
3 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto-Soudal
4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
5 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
6 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
7 Giacomo Nizzolo (It) Team Dimension Data
8 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
9 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
10 Christophe Laporte (Fr) Cofidis
Others (all +0.00)
9 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
23 Egan Bernal (Col) Team Ineos
33 Enric Mas (Sp) Deceuninck Quick-Step
35 Wout van Aert (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma
42 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
54 Geraint Thomas (GB) Team Ineos
56 Julian Alaphilippe (Fr) Deceuninck Quick-Step
67 George Bennett (NZ) Team Jumbo-Visma
74 Enric Mas (Sp) Deceuninck Quick-Step
78 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb
General classification after stage four
1 Julian Alaphilippe (Fr) Deceuninck Quick-Step 14:41:39
2 Wout van Aert (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma +20
3 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma +25
4 George Bennett (NZ) Team Jumbo-Visma
5 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb +40
6 Egan Bernal (Col) Team Ineos +40
7 Geraint Thomas (GB) Team Ineos +45
8 Enric Mas (Sp) Deceuninck Quick-Step +46
9 Greg van Avermaet (Sp) Deceuninck Quick-Step +51
10 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb +51
Jeremy Whittle’s report will follow shortly