A three-week Grand Tour will always contain natural ebbs and flows, and, for much of Monday’s stage between Valenciennes and Dunkirk, it looked as if the peloton had declared an unofficial rest day, with the riders happy to cruise back towards the coast after a weekend of wind, rain and intensity.

After a win two days ago, Mathieu Van der Poel stuck close to today’s Stage 4 winner Tadej Pogačar to hold tight to his

Map and profile of 209km route as Jasper Philipsen fights to keep yellow jersey - The yellow jersey is likely to change hands after just one day’s action thanks to some punchy late climbs

The Visma-Lease a Bike team of Jonas Vingegaard were the protagonists, with several contenders for the overall classification — including Remco Evenepoel — distanced as the echelons formed. That main part of the peloton, which also contained Primoz Roglic and Geraint Thomas, ended up losing 49 seconds to the stage winner.

Tour de France kicks off on July 5 as the Grand Départ returns to France, with the peloton set to roll out from Lille after three foreign starts.

Grand Depart updates and stage 1 route as Evenepoel distanced in crosswinds - Who will take the first yellow jersey of the Tour as three weeks of racing kick off in France?