There were more losers than winners after stage 4, and some major surprises.
Gruber Images, Cor Vos
After three relatively calm days, for the general classification hopefuls at least, the fourth stage – an individual time trial – was sure to rock the boat, and rock the boat it did. The women rolled out of Gevrey-Chambertin in near 33° C [91° F] temperatures and made their way to Dijon, where the cards would fall, and the general classification race would see its first significant movement.
A 21 km effort, it took nearly 30 minutes for most of the starters. A majority of the riders had the goal of making time cut, with an eye on the next couple of days that are sure to be challenging no matter where riders are on the road. For a select few, the race against the clock was either going to validate months and months of hard work or take them out of the conversation altogether.
It was expected that there would be time gaps on Tuesday evening, but the gaps that came through when the game ended were more significant than anyone anticipated. The list of losers was long. The list of winners was short: just three (with some honourable mentions).
Stage 4 GC winners
Marlen Reusser (Movistar): The world time trial champion not only won the stage, but she also took the yellow jersey and will go into the fifth stage with a 14-second advantage on Demi Vollering in second overall and most of the rest of the remaining GC contenders roughly a minute down.
The result, for Reusser, is special. Last year, she was forced to abandon the Tour on the first stage due to food poisoning after finishing second to Elisa Longo Borghini at the Giro d’Italia Women a few weeks before. She missed the 2024 edition entirely in a year spent struggling to recover from a horrific crash at the Tour of Flanders in late March and then dealing with long COVID.
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