Aura Tour Stage 4 Preview Sprint or breakaway?Netcompany Unchained: the stage win for Visma-LAB but it was close with Netcompany-Ineos only nine seconds behind. The Dutch team lost Ben Tullet to a puncture and then Wout van Aert with 8km to go when apparently he was meant to deliver a lead-out up the final climb. The British team lost Sam Watson to a dropped chain and then the same fate struck Oscar Onley which left them all sitting up to wait to wait for him and this cost them the win. If theyd ridden on they could have won the stage and had Kvin Vauquelin in yellow. By Sunday well know what the right option was.The big surprise of the day was EF finishing third to keep Alex Baudin in yellow by 12 seconds, again with help thanks to Netcompanys jumping chains. An impressive result by itself for EF, all the more so given the work they did the previous day too.A second surprise was UAE in ninth, a minute down and both the position and the time gaps. Lidl-Trek lost 32 seconds, Decathlon CMA-CGM 42 seconds.To watch the stage was to see a lot of this happening, the format of teams shedding riders is televisual. You could see the confusion for Netcompany-Ineos in the moment, you could see Van Aert dropped early, likewise Stefan Bissegger for Decathlon.The Route: 165km and 2,250m of vertical gain. The amount of climbing makes this accessible to the sprinters here, just and several teams have riders who can win after a tiring stage but its equally open to the breakaway. Its across the Forez, the forested hilly roads of the Auvergne and then 50km in the final of descent and flat.The Finish: a long flat road to the finish, no corners or junctions in the final 5km but there are some urban street furniture and traffic calming dividers.The Contenders: a sprint finish or a breakaway? Just like Monday several team have a house sprinter who could win after todays hilly course, think Dorian Godon (Netcompany), Wout van Aert (Visma-LAB), Benot Cosnefroy (UAE) and Michael Matthews (Jayco) but unlike then theres no reason to hold back today. Godons form has looked questionable but did a good ride leading the team until almost the food of the final climb while Van Aert is a harder pick but could still try the sprint while Cosnefroy needs an uphill finish.There are sprinters here but they have few wins between them. Hugo Hoffstetter (NSN) is a sprinter but a rare winner and not yet in the World Tour. Matthew Fox (Lotto-Intermarch) can be quick but a win today would be more of a surprise than Hoffstetter. Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain) won a Dauphin stage in 2017. Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) is here too but an infrequent winner and even focussing less on the sprints this year, team mate Valentin Ferron is quick and could aim for the breakaway.Breakaway specialist Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarch) finds terrain to suit, likewise Ivan Romeo (Movistar) and with both its solo or bust. Matteo Trentin (Tudor) can do well from a group, maybe Matej Mohori (Bahrain) too.Bauhaus, Godon, MatthewsSimmons, WvA,Hoffstetter, Veistroffer, Romeo, Healy, FerronWeather: some rain clearing to leave dry roads, 20C.TV: KM0 is at 1.15pm and the finish is forecast for 5.00pm.Postcard from Montrond-les-BainsThere are only so many roads and over time an annual bike race will return to places it has been before. Todays finish races where the Dauphin has been before, in the last few years the races westward push has visited this area many times.With 23km to go todays stage goes through Mornand-en-Forez, in 2022 it was the mid-stage time check during the 32km time trial stage. Filippo Ganna won the stage but just, two seconds ahead of Wout van Aert. Primo Rogli was the best of the GC riders, his team mate Jonas Vingegaard was next among them 30 seconds back. A teenage Juan Ayuso was 10th, Movistars Matteo Jorgenson 11th.Sacked on the Planche des Belles Filles in 2020, crashing out of the 2021 Tour, Rogli had won Paris-Nice in the spring of 2022 and with the Dauphin everything seemed back on track, he went into the Tour as a contender alongside Vingegaard whod matched him on the climb to the Plateau de Solaison. The pair would crack Tadej Pogaar on the Col du Granon, in part because the Slovenian did not eat enough but that was because he was kept under pressure. But by then Rogli was nursing injuries and Vingegaard would win the Tour while Rogli left the race again.Todays stage might be hard to extrapolate from but look out for Sundays Solaison finish as the Dauphin goes there just as it did in 2022, and so will the Tour in July.The post Aura Tour Stage 4 Preview first appeared on The Inner Ring.
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