Another crash-filled day hits Evenepoel’s team hardest, but Roglic struggles too: "He was riding with a handicap"

No fewer than three of Evenepoel’s teammates crashed in stage four. First, Ilan Van Wilder crashed, but a heavier fall at a road narrowing took down both Valentin Paret-Peintre and Mattia Cattaneo. "That crash of Cattaneo is really unfortunate. He’s my most important bodyguard for the entire Tour," Evenepoel told VTM, sounding concerned.

According to the jury report, Cattaneo was treated for "abrasions on his left shoulder, knee, and hip." "He looked pretty beaten up, but tomorrow is a relatively easy day, so we’ll check with the doctor to see how we proceed. I’ll definitely still need him in the next two weeks," the Belgian team leader added.

Paret-Peintre was able to continue without treatment, as were many other riders who crashed. Around 52 kilometers from the finish, there was a crash involving Yevgeniy Fedorov from XDS Astana and Sepp Kuss from Visma | Lease a Bike. Only Matteo Vercher from TotalEnergies needed medical care for an "injury to his left buttock."

Laurence Pithie also visited the medical car, but that was related to a crash the day before in stage three. The New Zealander from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe had gone down along with Jordi Meeus and sustained an injury in the buttock as well. He’ll likely keep feeling that in the coming days, starting with Wednesday’s time trial.

What wasn’t shown on camera was Primoz Roglic’s ordeal in the finale of stage 4. The Slovenian from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe had already lost time in earlier stages, but Tuesday might have gone differently. "Primoz was involved in a crash before the finale and had a small mechanical problem. He was climbing those tough hills with a handicap, which definitely wasn’t ideal," team boss Ralph Denk said on the team podcast.

After four stages, Roglic sits 13th overall, 1 minute 27 seconds behind the yellow jersey. His teammate and wildcard Florian Lipowitz is 20th at 1:49 back, partly due to losing 52 seconds on Tuesday from not-so-great legs. "We need to remember these aren’t really Florian’s types of stages. His time loss for the GC is manageable, but it’s clear we will have to put our cards on the table in Wednesday’s time trial," Denk added.

"I’m suffering a lot these days. I don't care about the time gaps. It was quite tough to even get to this Tour," Roglic said himself, referring to his injuries after the Giro d’Italia. "I put everything on the road day after day. So far, I’ve stayed out of danger. It would be nice to actually reach Paris. Long time no see, right?"