Tour de l’Avenir Stage 4

Tour de l’Avenir Stage 4 – winner and new Overall race leader is Britain’s Thomas Gloag after getting a breakaway with FOUR Dutchmen and then making split of three riders and sprinting to victory

Tour de l’Avenir Stage 4

Stage 4 – winner and new Overall race leader is Britain’s Thomas Gloag

Photo: Anouk Flesch

Thomas Gloag has won the fourth stage of the Tour de l’Avenir. The British rider, who is currently a stagiaire at Jumbo-Visma, defeated Adam Holm Jørgensen and Michel Hessmann in a three-way sprint. Gloag is the new racer leader thanks to his victory.

The 142.8 kilometer fourth stage of the Tour de l’Avenir seemed made for attackers. After the start in Saint-Sévère-sur-Indre, it went over rolling roads to Chaillac. There were two fourth category climbs along the way, after which the riders passed the finish once after more than 82 kilometers. West of Chaillac they then made a loop of about sixty kilometres, with another fourth category climb.

Although the course offered opportunities for the escapees, the break of the day did not look too dangerous. Only three riders got away: Rafael Pereira Marques (Luxembourg), Maximilian Schmidbauer (Austria) and Thomas Schellenberg (Canada). Two riders, including Félix Stehli (Switzerland), who showed himself earlier in this Tour, counterattacked. However, the duo ended up in the no mans land and would eventually fall back into the peloton.

The three in front were allowed to take four and a half minutes but halfway through the race, that lead started to decline. There was plenty of action behind them as a group of eleven riders had separated got clear. No less than four Dutchmen (its a national team race remember).

They were joined by Thomas Gloag (Great Britain), Sebastian Kolze Changizi, Adam Holm Jørgensen (Denmark), Michel Hessmann (Germany), Maximilian Kabas (Austria), Mats Wenzel (Luxembourg), and Søren Wærenskjold, who completed the first stage on Friday. The counter-attackers soon bridged the gap to the breakaway with about fifty kilometers to go. The French had missed the move and gave chase. Meanwhile, there had been a crash in the peloton, which also involved Labrosse. The classification leader would eventually come in behind and lose his jersey.

At the front, the cooperation had deteriorated somewhat which led to some riders getting dropped. Ten riders remained, with still the four Dutchmen. At one point they had almost a minute on the thinned peloton. In the final, the breakaway group broke into two parts. Three riders got away and went to battle for the win: Jørgensen, Hessmann and Gloag. The Dutch were surprised! Gloag showed himself the strongest in the sprint for the win. Jørgensen was second, Hessmann third. Van Uden sprinted behind that to fourth place.

Dutch source for report: https://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/thomas-gloag-wint-heuvelachtige-vierde-etappe-tour-de-lavenir/

Great Britain Team Result

1. Thomas Gloag
8. Sam Watson
40. Bob Donaldson
67. Josh Giddings
109. Jack Brough
119. Leo Hayter

Overall
1. Thomas Gloag
7. Sam Watson
35. Leo Hayter

Result: https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=44&y=2022&e=04

The race website https://tourdelavenir.com/en/ is here.