Tour de France Femmes 2024: stage four takes the race to Liège – live | Tour de France Femmes

56km to go: There’s been a crash (I think) and it seems like two Canyon–SRAM riders, including Chloe Dygert, have hit the deck. They are trying to get back to the bunch. Neve Bradbury is the other rider involved. Both seem to be OK, thankfully.

57km to go: “The first two stages were covered in full by FranceTelevisions, it is true, and Laurent Jalabert is commentating,” emails George, in response to Jeremy’s email earlier.

”However, from the time trial yesterday to stage 7 on Saturday, they are only covering the last two hours or so of racing; with the last three hours or so on Sunday.

“Also, Thomas Voeckler is not one of the commentators on this tour; his place has been taken by Marion Hérault-Garnier.”

There you have it.

61km to go: “The roads are shit,” observes Slappendel on the Eurosport bike.

The former pro rider also mentions that it’s hectic in the peloton, even if the pace isn’t that high just at the moment.

62km to go: Of course, Martin will be set to win the sprint when she rolls through on her own, but the riders behind with an interest in the points classification will still be keen to take second.

63km to go: After a brief lull things suddenly look more animated. That will be because the intermediate sprint isn’t far away.

64km to go: Tomasi is about to be caught after her solo attack. Martin has 57sec on the bunch. The weather is – what’s the word? Wet. Lizzie Deignan (Lidl–Trek) is pictured on the right of the main bunch, working hard.

68km to go: The combination of grey, wet weather and the industrial landscape of north-west Europe is giving the unmistakable feel of a spring classic.

Tomasi is pictured turning a big gear on the flat, with the bunch in sight behind, while Martin drops back for a quick chat with the team car.

69km to go: Laura Tomasi (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) has attacked from the peloton and seems to be trying to bridge across to Martin up front. She is 46sec up on the main bunch.

71km to go: “We have left the sun in the Netherlands,” says Iris Slappendel out on the Eurosport motorbike. “It’s not raining super hard, and it’s not too cold … but the roads are really wet and that’s something to pay attention to, for the riders.

“The first hour was very aggressive … but as soon as Sara Martin attacked, the peloton slowed down. We’ve had the first signs of fatigue in some riders.”

Martin’s solo attack will also have been welcomed by the riders who were dropped. It’s enabled them to regain contact with the main bunch.

73km to go: The intermediate sprint, at Pepinster, is the next significant point on the route. It arrives with 55.3km to go.

Martin’s advantage drops slightly but is still holding at over a minute.

75km to go: Live TV pictures!

The gap between Sara Martin of Movistar, the lone escapee, and the peloton is 1min 10sec.

The rain is lashing down and it does look like the peloton are happy enough for Martin to have her day in the sun (rain) in that one-rider breakaway.

78km to go: Five riders have been dropped from the main bunch. The main peloton consists of 134 riders and there are a few stragglers in between.

80km to go: The average speed has crept up to 37.8km/h for the day.

81km to go: According the official site Martin is 1min 14sec up, while the back markers are over 3min down. We are going to see some big time gaps today.

82km to go: Martin of Movistar now has 1min 20sec on the peloton. That’s an awesome effort to build a gap of that size. Unless of course the peloton has eased off, which seems unlikely but not impossible. If I had live pictures (which appear to be imminent) it would be easier …

85km to go: Sara Martin (Movistar) has attacked off the front of the bunch on her own. The kilometres are ticking by incredibly quickly. The average speed is up to 37.5km/h.

Meanwhile, here is the top five on GC after stage three:

1) Vollering 4hr 27min 54sec
2) Wiebes +03sec
3) Dygert +05sec
4) Adegeest +05sec
5) Kool +05sec

The top 10 is separated by just 10sec.

95km to go: It looks like the race is all back together so the pace is going to stay extremely hot.

97km to go: Persico has mopped up no fewer than seven QOM points today.

99km to go: You guessed it, Persico makes it four out of four on the second ascent of the Bemelerberg. There is a breakaway ahead of the main bunch but no data on the official site as to who is in it, apart from the details of the riders who have won climbing points. Things will be much clearer shortly when we have live TV pictures.

104km to go: The race will head over the Bemelerberg again, after which there is a long section with no climbing points available. It’s over 50km of racing, across the border into Belgium, before the next categorised climb.

105km to go: Persico mops up another two points on the Geulhemmerberg. Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance–Soudal–Quick-Step) is second.

107km to go: Persico has her climbing legs on today, and wins three points atop the Cauberg, to add to the two she won on the Bemelerberg:

1. Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ), 3 pts
2. Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck), 2 pts
3. Sofia Bertizzolo (UAE Team ADQ), 1 pt

110km to go: The peloton has now hit the Cauberg, and already some riders are losing touch at the back. The average speed so far is 35km/h, which is extremely quick, factoring in the climbing they’ve already done.

116km to go: Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) takes two points on the Bemelerberg, the day’s first climb. Quinty Ton (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) is second to win the other QOM point on offer.

“Here in France (where I live) they are giving the Tour de France Femmes full coverage,” emails Jeremy Boyce. “Every minute of every stage televised, helicopters, cameras on bikes, star commentators (Laurent Jalabert and Tommy Voeckler brilliant as usual), the women are starting to get the support and recognition they deserve.”

Neither Discovery nor Eurosport have any live pictures until 12.30pm UK. A shame, because the start of today’s stage is bound to be spicy.

The riders – 144 of them after this morning’s three abandonments – have rolled out for the neutralised start.

Christina Schweinberger (Fenix-Deceuninck), Elise Chabbey (Canyon–SRAM) and Clara Emond (EF–Oatly–Cannondale) have all abandoned the race before stage four.

The time schedule on the official site states that the stage begins at 11.25 UK / 12.25 BST.

The TV schedule now states live coverage begins at 12.30 UK, so I’ll be relying on the official site updates until then.

Are you looking forward to this one?

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Here’s the lineup for today’s eight climbs. It promises to be a very hard day in the saddle:

Bemelerberg (category four)
Cauberg (category three)
Geulhemmerberg (category four)
Bemeleberg (category four)
Mont-Theux (category three)
Côte de la Redoute (category two)
Côte de Forges (category three)
Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons (category two)

“I hope we can keep this up,” Lorena Wiebes told Eurosport yesterday, after her SD Worx–Protime teammate Demi Vollering won the individual time trial. On which note, today looks like it could be a tough one to control, as it combines some of the terrain from the Amstel Gold Race and Liège–Bastogne–Liège.

Preamble