Tadej Pogacar Secures Milestone 100th Career Victory in Tour de France Stage Four Triumph

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Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogacar surged past his competitors in a spectacular finish at the Tour de France stage four in Rouen on Wednesday morning AEST, marking his 100th career win.

“That was genuinely classic Tour de France explosive,” a thrilled Pogacar stated.

However, the victory didn’t secure him the overall lead. Dutch cyclist Mathieu van der Poel retained the yellow jersey by finishing second.

Pogacar made his move on an uphill stretch, managing to outpace Van der Poel, with Jonas Vingegaard taking third place.

This marks the 26-year-old’s 18th stage win in the Tour de France as he aims for his fourth overall championship in the event.

“There was big adrenaline and a big field of contenders,” Pogacar said.

Fans were treated to another Pogacar-Vingegaard head-to-head duel as five hills made the final 40km a roller-coaster.

The thrilling race featured a close contest between Danish cyclist Jonas Vingegaard and Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogacar. Source: AAP / Belga / Sipa USA / Bernard Papon

“Jasper needs to recover, and I hope he understands how hard I tried to win for him today,” Van der Poel said.

On the day’s final real climb, Pogacar dropped all his rivals, with only Vingegaard offering a real fight.

But van der Poel and Vingegaard both came back at Pogacar, making him fight all the way to the line in a thunderous finale.

The same trio top the overall standings, with Pogacar second and Vingegaard in third.

“I should be happy to have the jersey again,” said Van der Poel. “I was surrounded by climbers out there, you know.”

“Tadej was stronger and it’s as simple as that.”

Unlike the opening three stages, there was hardly a puff of wind and not a drop of rain, but there were still plenty of falls.

Police shoot man wielding knife

There was also a knifing incident with a man at Rouen slightly injuring a police officer before being shot by French riot police as he tried to escape.

Neither the police officer nor the alleged culprit suffered life-threatening injuries.

Time trial for stage five

Stage five will shake up the overall standings with a 33km individual time trial around Caen.

The stage is being billed as the day Remco Evenepoel will finally slip into the overall leader’s yellow jersey.

To succeed, the 25-year-old Belgian world and Olympic champion will need to complete the course 59 seconds quicker than Pogacar and Vingegaard.

“Tomorrow will be the big day, the real test of how good everyone is,” said Pogacar.

“Don’t count Remco out,” he added. “He’s the best in the world, and he’ll be going full gas, like me.”

The man who designs the race, Thierry Gouvenou, predicted big time differences on the time trial.

“It’s flat and runs through exposed plains. This is a course designed for the specialists. You need to be aerodynamic and powerful,” he said, which suggests it could suit Evenepoel in particular.

“This is a red letter day for all the main contenders.”

Rarely lacking in confidence, Evenepoel was true to form.

“I can put a minute into them all tomorrow,” he said in Rouen after the fourth stage.

The first mountains come as late as stage 10 over the volcanic landscape of the Puy de Dome, with two more colossal climbing days in the Pyrenees before the blockbuster final week in the Alps.

The place to watch the 2025 Tour de France – LIVE, FREE and EXCLUSIVE – plus the fourth edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, is right here on the SBS On Demand Hub.