A historic day for Tadej at the 112th Tour de France. In a spectacular 174.2-kilometer-long 4th stage from Amiens to Rouen, he celebrated an exceptional victory, his hundredth among professionals. As befits such a milestone, Tadej achieved it at the biggest race in the world, competing against the best cyclists in the world and in the rainbow jersey of the world champion.
In Rouen, he out-sprinted Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Deceuninck) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease a Bike), with great credit also going to his teammates from the UAE Team Emirates XRG. About 19 kilometers before the finish of the challenging race with 2,050 meters of elevation, they began to set an extremely sharp pace, and then Tadej attacked on the last, short but very steep climb of the day at Rampe Saint-Hillaire.
Only Vingegaard could follow him, and at the top, five kilometers before the finish, they waited for a small group of chasers. João Almeida was also in it, and did an exceptional job. First, he covered numerous attacks from the other riders, and then he set up the winning sprint for Tadej. »I hope we were all at the limit this time. I tried with an attack on the last climb and Jonas followed me, before everything came together. João did such an amazing job to lead me out right until the end, even if other people were attacking, so I am super happy and proud for the team today. They were amazing. I am just without words, it was such a nice victory,« Tadej said after his 18th stage success at the Tour, with which he became the 25th cyclist to celebrate at least a hundred victories.
»Winning at the Tour is incredible, even more so in this jersey, having a hundred victories is something amazing. There are so many good riders in the final, you are always a bit on the edge and nervous. You never know what is going to happen, and you never know until the final. Like today, you get this adrenaline and it is pure racing, I really enjoy it,« added Tadej after he reached a hundred victories as the fourth youngest in history.
At 26, he has already won the Tour three times and the Giro once, celebrated nine victories in monuments, four at Il Lombardia, three at Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and two at the Tour of Flanders. Last year, he also won the world road race championship.
With this victory, the Tour will certainly not end for Tadej, the fight for the yellow jersey, which Mathieu van der Poel continues to wear with the same overall time as Tadej, is just beginning. Tomorrow, the 5th stage features a 33-kilometer time trial in Caen. Before it, Tadej has an 8-second lead over Vingegaard and 58 seconds over Evenepoel, the world time trial champion, who is considered the favorite for the stage win.
»The real test is coming, but winning a stage in the rainbow jersey is enough, from now on I will enjoy the race. I will certainly also aim for the yellow jersey, we will see,« said Tadej. This time he didn’t wear the yellow jersey at the finish, but the polka dot jersey for the best in the mountains classification.