Fernando Gaviria outsprints Peter Sagan to take second Tour stage

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Fernando Gaviria tour of guangxi stage 1

Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) took his second win in four stages at the Tour de France on Tuesday, while Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) kept the yellow leader’s jersey.

Gaviria won stage 4 after edging world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) in a sprint finish to the flat 195-kilometer leg from La Baule to Sarzeau that started and finished on the Atlantic coast.

The 23-year-old Colombian had already won Stage 1 – when he also edged Sagan – on his Tour debut.

Defending champion Chris Froome, who entered the day 55 seconds back after losing time in a fall on the opening stage, finished safely in the pack with leader Van Avermaet.

“Everyone in Colombia is watching the Tour de France and I feel like my nation’s representative,” said Gaviria. “The team had to work really hard to catch the escape, nobody else was helping,”.

The frenetic finish was so close, the riders all watched the replay on a giant screen to see how the shares had been spoiled.

“I took Greiple’s wheel, so it could have been better,” Sagan joked afterwards. “Second is better than third,” he added.

Despite the late fall in the peloton, overnight leader Greg van Avermaet of BMC held on to the race leader’s yellow jersey.

“We are happy to have kept the yellow,” said Van Avermaet. “I hope it brings us luck in the semi-final,” he added in reference to the World Cup semi-final later Tuesday which pitches Belgium against France.

Van Avermaet would normally be one of the favourites to clinch Wednesday’s hilly run to Quimper, but will face a stiff challenge for the jersey.

“It’s the first big stage of this kind and we are going to see time difference in the overall standings, it just depends who wants to go for it,” he said.

Tour de France 2018 – stage 4 results (La Baule – Sarzeau):

1Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors)

4:25:01

2Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe)

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3Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal)

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4Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo)

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5Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin)

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6Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty – Groupe Gobert)

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7Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates)

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8John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo)

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9Dion Smith (Wanty – Groupe Gobert)

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10Timothy Dupont (Wanty – Groupe Gobert)

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11Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ)

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12Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie)

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13Thomas Boudat (Direct Energie)

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14Warren Barguil (Fortuneo-Samsic)

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15Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors)

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16Greg Van Avermaet (BMC)

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17Rick Zabel (Katusha-Alpecin)

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18Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors)

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19Laurent Pichon (Fortuneo-Samsic)

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20Egan Bernal (Team Sky)

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General classification after stage 4:

1Greg Van Avermaet (BMC)

13:33:56

2Tejay van Garderen (BMC)

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3Geraint Thomas (Team Sky)

+03”

4Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors)

+05”

5Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors)

+07”

6Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors)

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7Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb)

+11”

8Søren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb)

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9Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb)

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10Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First-Drapac)

+35”

11Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe)

+50”

12Daniel Oss (Bora-hansgrohe)

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13Jakob Fuglsang (Astana)

+51”

14Richie Porte (BMC)

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15Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)

+53”

16Mikel Landa (Movistar)

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17Chris Froome (Team Sky)

+55”

18Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott)

+01’00”

19Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida)

+01’06”

20Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale)

+01’15”

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