Arnaud Demare claimed his maiden Tour de France stage win when he powered to victory in a crash-marred finale on the fourth day.
Mark Cavendish came down in a crash at full speed within a hundred meters of the finish line after being elbowed off balance by world champion Peter Sagan, who took second place but was disqualified from the race.
Cavendish was trying to race up along the safety barrier on the right-hand side of the road.
“He was coming from behind, I did not have time to react and go left,” said Sagan, who afterwards went to Cavendish’s team bus to apologize.
John Degenkolb also crashed as he ran into Cavendish on the ground. The Briton of the Dimension Data team eventually got back on his bike and crossed the line after being attended to by race medics. Cavendish, wearing a sling, was later taken to hospital for checks on his wrist and collarbone.
The race’s yellow jersey holder, Geraint Thomas, hit the deck in a separate pile-up near the end, but as the incident occurred within the final three kilometers he will be credited with the same time as the winner.
Both Thomas and defending champion Chris Froome, who was held up behind the crash, are fine, Team Sky said.
“I went to the ground, but no serious damage,” said Thomas, who was also brought down in a crash on Sunday.
Tour de France 2017 – stage 4 results (Mondorf-les-Bains – Vittel):
| 1 | Arnaud Demare (FDJ) | 4:53:54 |
| 2 | Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) | ,, |
| 3 | André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 4 | Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) | ,, |
| 5 | Adrien Petit (Direct Energie) | ,, |
| 6 | Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 7 | Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 8 | Manuele Mori (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 9 | Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 10 | Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 11 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 12 | Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Wanty – Groupe Gobert) | ,, |
| 13 | Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 14 | Marcel Sieberg (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 15 | Mike Teunissen (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 16 | Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie) | ,, |
| 17 | Oliver Naesen (AG2R) | ,, |
| 18 | Davide Cimolai (FDJ) | ,, |
| 19 | Grega Bole (Bahrain Merida) | ,, |
| 20 | Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
General classification after stage 4:
| 1 | Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) | 14:54:25 |
| 2 | Chris Froome (Team Sky) | +12” |
| 3 | Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 4 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) | +16” |
| 5 | Pierre Latour (AG2R) | +25” |
| 6 | Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) | +30” |
| 7 | Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) | +32” |
| 8 | Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 9 | Arnaud Demare (FDJ) | +33” |
| 10 | Nikias Arndt (Team Sunweb) | +34” |
| 11 | Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) | +37” |
| 12 | Stefan Küng (BMC) | +38” |
| 13 | Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | +40” |
| 14 | Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) | ,, |
| 15 | Daniel Martin (Quick-Step Floors) | +43” |
| 16 | Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 17 | Simon Yates (Orica-Scott) | +45” |
| 18 | Daryl Impey (Orica-Scott) | +46” |
| 19 | Richie Porte (BMC) | +47” |
| 20 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +48” |
