Jonas Vingegaard kept hold of the leader’s yellow jersey at the Tour de France on Sunday but only after surviving a fall and losing two key Jumbo-Visma teammates to injury which weakened his defences in a tense struggle for the title with defending champion Tadej Pogacar.
The stage itself, raced in sweltering 40-degree heat, was won by Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen who edged a mass bunch sprint ahead of Wout van Aert and Mads Pederson.
The sprinters caught Frenchman Benjamin Thomas around 250m from the line of the stage from Rodez to the Carcassonne citadel, as the home nation’s run without a win stretches to 35 stages.
Philipsen thought he had won stage four at Calais, not realising another rider had crossed the line much earlier.
“I have better memories than at Calais,” he said smiling.
“It also helped that Mark Cavendish isn’t here this year,” he said in reference to the star British sprinter.