TdF Stage 4: Dax – Nogaro (spoilers!)

With the Tour now fully in France, this is the first of three days in the far SW corner; flat today then very definitely not flat as the race hits the Pyrenees on Wednesday and Thursday.

Yesterday gave an insight into the sprint teams on a hectic but ultimately relatively safe technical run in. Today’s stage is much flatter and after some twists and turns through the town of Nogaro it heads onto the local motor racing circuit.

Who to win…? Alpecin-Deceuninck got everything right yesterday to lead out Jasper Philipsen but it wasn’t a done deal by any means, no one team had overall control for very long and Phil Bauhous was a close 2nd thanks to some great leadout work from Fred Wright. WvA wasn’t far off, his sprint stymied by the curve of the barriers with Cav only inches behind him.

No coastal scenery today so it’ll be chateaux and churches for a while.

My photo manager @Klunk will be along shortly with some more images… 😉

best gates ever !

not as picturesque as the first three days :/

“(Spoilers)”

Really…. 🙄

another view of the gates

not your typical church

#TDF2023

Look who we found! The proudest parents at @LeTour ? John and Sue aka Simon and Adam’s parents ? pic.twitter.com/A1p2x3uU3k

— GreenEDGE Cycling (@GreenEDGEteam) July 4, 2023

goodbye to the atlantic!

more from yesterday

Today’s #TDF2023 stage will take the riders past Notre-Dame des Cyclistes (Our Lady of the Cyclists). Located in the little town of Labastide-d’Armagnac, this is France’s national ‘cycling church’.
Let’s talk about its history…
? pic.twitter.com/g2IulEwW5L

— Ewan Wilson (@ewanswilson) July 4, 2023

Maybe powless will give himself a day off today

yesterdays winner snap

Lets see if Cav can get himself in a better position this time then. So many times in recent races we’ve seen him trying to come from 10-15 lengths back in the last 400m. But it really needs to be closer than that or earlier as he showed in Rome. Obviously that’s easier said than done of course but it feels to me like he has enough speed to be closer, just needs to be positioned better.

I think today may be a ‘turn on for the last 20km’ type day with minor breaks all day being out and hung there without worry, then giving it to the big boys for the pull-back.

more goodbye Atlantic coast

Hau nahiko totxoa izan da. pic.twitter.com/QHbdcwL3jr

— Igor Goikolea (@goikoleaigor) July 3, 2023

stiltage

I think today may be a ‘turn on for the last 20km’ type day with minor breaks all day being out and hung there without worry, then giving it to the big boys for the pull-back.

I’ve mistimed my WFH this week. I’m in the office tomorrow, the first day in the Pyrenees. 🤔
I’ll have the whole stage on today – it’s relatively unobtrusive to just have it on quietly in the background for a bit of scenery. Tomorrow is going to require some strategic use of Twitter and maybe a minimised screen on somewhere.

“(Spoilers)”

Really…. 🙄

Come on, the general rule is for this thread to contain all the spoilers and the rest of the forum to be free from threads of “LOOK AT CAV GO!!! WHAT A WIN!!!” which has been posted in the past. I get that in The Old Days it was fairly easy to avoid knowing who won until the highlights programme whereas now you pretty much have to cut yourself off from the internet entirely if you don’t want to see the result somewhere but whatever – it stops people moaning that they’ve opened a TdF thread only to see the result plastered across the posts…

more goodbye Atlantic coast

That was a phenomenal drone shot. DId you see the geology segment on ITV4 highlights show? Really interesting. There is a website and Twitter feed (of course there is) for the geology of sporting events.

Stage 4: Invisible mountains of salt

25th tdf looked “fun”!

listening to Never Strays Far, Cadel Evans is a very strange chap !?

Never ceases to amaze me that people are surprised to find spoilers on a dedicated thread on a cycling forum 🤣

@crazy-legs and @klunk – thanks for doing these threads !!

Maybe powless will give himself a day off today

There can’t be many KOM points today can there?

Never ceases to amaze me that people are surprised to find spoilers on a dedicated thread on a cycling forum

Indeed, it’s not hard to avoid it.

Come on, the general rule is for this thread to contain all the spoilers

That’s great. But you don’t need to put the word “spoilers” in the thread. Youre just pandering to the hard of thinking. It’s a thread titled “TdF Stage 4: Dax – Nogaro ” posted on the day of TdF Stage 4: Dax – Nogaro. If anyone opens that thread and gets upset that it contains info about TdF Stage 4: Dax – Nogaro then **** them

the rest of the forum to be free from threads of “LOOK AT CAV GO!!! WHAT A WIN!!!” which has been posted in the past.

There is indeed a debate to be had about the ethics of someone posting such a thread ( I don’t see the problem personally on a cycling forum) but I still don’t see how you putting the word “spoilers” in your thread alleviates that [ non] issue.

I get that in The Old Days it was fairly easy to avoid knowing who won until the highlights programme whereas now you pretty much have to cut yourself off from the internet entirely if you don’t want to see the result somewhere but whatever – it stops people moaning that they’ve opened a TdF thread only to see the result plastered across the posts…

As above, **** ’em. Why dumb things down to the lowest level?

<p>Not to take anything away from the sprinters, but yesterday’s finish showed how important the lead out can be. Quickstep had one tiny wobble in the last km and that did it for Jakobsen.</p><p>will be interesting to see how the less powerful but more Wiley guys like cav and wva fare in todays finish. It’ll take some clever riding not to get nuked by the watt monsters</p>

Anyone else having issues logging in to GCN+?

more “only in france” oddities :/

Jumbo bringing out the 1x again for aero gainz

Visma de Coroa unica hoje#Tdf2023 #ciclismonaespn pic.twitter.com/GAXhx3CO5V

— O País do Ciclismo (@opaisdociclismo) July 4, 2023

Maybe powless will give himself a day off today

perhaps he’ll be “flying the flag” with Quinn “the trumpet” Simmons

hi chris 😉

and mr thoughtful

Anyone else having issues logging in to GCN+?
Posted 20 minutes ago

I was at that point, but just logged in ok now

25th tdf looked “fun”!

Didn’t @richpips and @minipips ride that rourte on summer (albeith they may have taken longer than three weeks)

say cheese

And they’re off!

And…. absolutely nothing is happening, not even an attempt at a breakaway! 🤣

work to rule!

Angry phone calls coming from A.S.0 in 1,2,3….

?‍♂️ Cycling… ?? ??? ??? ?#TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/1yvFmDZ3Vp

— Eurosport (@eurosport) July 4, 2023

Boooo, the riders wanted to organise another “Belgian Day” when all the belgians would ride off the front (as they did back in – umm 2018 I think?) but the DSs all said “No, you stay in the bunch and look after our sprinter”

Are they doing a ride slow as a protest against yesterday’s finish? Seems fairly early to be having a de facto rest day?!

hate him 😉

Mathieu van der Poel multitalent ?#MVDP #TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/SNrUtpnSzm

— Max de Kok (@MaxdeKok1913) July 4, 2023

oooo it’s kicked off!

false dawn 🙁

Is that… A crosswind?!