Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes stage 4 LIVE: Breakaway’s lead ticks down to under a minute as sprint teams chase aggressively ahead of flat finale

The break are riding well together now, but the gap continues to tick down, now at 50 seconds with several teams chasing hard behind at close to 60kph.

All of the GC names are sat looking comfortably in the peloton for now. But with a cross-tailwind blowing for the final run for home, it certainly won’t be an easy one with lots of nerves for those chasing yellow.

Curiously, Bennett has dropped back to the break from the peloton, leaving teammate Frigo alone in front. If it was a tactical call to save his legs for another day, it was a late one.

Back in the peloton, Tudor have also started to ride, with more teams getting interested in this finale.

The remaining riders in the breakaway are now off the descent. George Bennett has dropped back from the move though, holding his hand up and requiring assistance of some kind.

Watson is thankfully on his feet but clearly in pain. The replay seems to show his front wheel wobbling as he tried to hold onto it before losing control. He took most of the impact on his hip but is remounting his bike now with a broken boa strap on his shoe.

Could today be Wout van Aert’s day? He hasn’t shown the form yet in this race, but you never know with one of the best riders of this generation.

Bahrain Victorious have now moved into that space Visma were occupying. Their fast-man Phil Bauhaus has been spotted in this group and would be a great option if this ends in a flat sprint.

It’s Visma who are holding front position on the peloton to navigate the downhill. Gap down to 1:12 from the break. There has been whispers of a potential change in wind at the bottom which will make everyone nervous as they change direction en route to Montrond-les-Bains.

If they can survive in front, there are three teams in the move with two riders: Movistar, NSN and TotalEnergies. This is just the latest example in the Spanish team’s ultra attacking season, which they showed off constantly at the Giro.

Cooperation in the break is far from perfect, despite the multiple strong engines up in front.

Whatever happens on today’s finale, it looks likely that Alex Baudin (EF) will successfully defend the yellow jersey again. With a possible sprint tomorrow, the stage 1 winner could hold it all the way until the brutal trio of mountain stages at the weekend.

The breakaway’s advantage remains at 1:27 for now.

Approaching the last and a key downhill section of today’s stage, some of the GC teams like Visma and Ineos and moving up to position themselves.

Jan Castellon has taken nine KOM points during his time in today’s breakaway, but that isn’t enough to overhaul the lead of Clement Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ United) who will keep the blue and white polka-dot jersey tomorrow.

The 12-rider break is approaching the crest of the final climb. Key to them making it will be cooperation, and legs, of course.

The break is now on the final climb of the stage and the end of the 2100m of elevation gain. The break will have just 1:36 to defend on the descent and flat run to the line if they don’t extend their lead on the uphill.

It’s Cofidis who are on the front of the peloton and chasing for Bryan Coquard. Could today be another big one for Le Coq?

The lead group is now over the Limites climb with a small gap on the chasing peloton. Their lead is down to 1:21.

Riders are nearing the bottom of the third climb of the day. They’ll be straight into the next ascent, the Col des Limites (3.7km at 5.5%).

The breakaway groups and the peloton are now on the Chougoirand climb, the longest ascent of today’s stage and the only one which is a category.2.

Three more have followed suit after Fisher-Black to make it nine in the second grop: Marco Frigo (NSN), Lars Craps (Lotto Intermarché) and Sam Watson (Netcompany Ineos).

Here’s a look at that initial breakaway trio, and Simmons’ impressive, but probably not aero-optimised facial hair.

The five riders chasing the break trio have joined together and gained another escapee, Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

Simmons led the race over the cat.3 Côte du Temple, taking the 2 KOM points, but he will be more interested in building out the break’s gap on this short descent, before the hit the Chougoirand climb.

The peloton sit 25 seconds behind that lead trio, with two groups of chasers in the road between them:

Pablo Castrillo, Raul Garcia Pierna (Movistar), and Matteo Vercher (Total Energies) at 10 seconds, and Jan Castellon (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and George Bennett (NSN) at 20 seconds.

Approaching the top of the day’s second climb, a breakaway finally appears to be forming with US champ Simmons, Andreas Krøn (Uno-X Mobility) and Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) getting a gap on the Côte du Temple.

Netcompany Ineos and Visma-Lease a Bike were towards the front on that long downhill section. Reminder that they have two of the big name favourites for today among their ranks: Godon and Van Aert.

Onto the climb and the attacks are being launched once again.

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have lost a rider as Haimar Etxebarria abandons mid-way through stage 4. He had been back to the medical car several times before stopping.

Unlike the first climb of the day, the Côte du Temple won’t be followed with a long section without any climbing.

Instead a short descent will lead the riders straight onto the Côte de Chougoirand (7.8km at 5.5%), where attacks could fly from the punchier break hunters.

With the sprint dealt with, the focus in the bunch will now turn to the next climb, the Côte du Temple (5.7km at 4.5%).

Coming up is intermediate sprint in Arlanc. The last time the Dauphiné came here was in 2017 when Arnaud Démare won the sprint on stage 2.

Uno-X Mobility tried briefly to attack the descent. They would have had good memories on the start line as the location was where Anthon Charmig won stage 2, but were quickly brought back.

The riders are heading onto a long section of downhill now. Unless anyone is really daring, the first for the break will have to reignite on the second climb of the day after 60km of racing are completed.

Several more attacks have been launched as the race reaches Craponne-sur-Arzon, but none can get away to form a break.

This is good news for Netcompany Ineos and Jayco AlUla, who will want the fight to last as long as possible, making their job of controlling for Godon and Matthews later on easier.

Here’s a look at the big early split which threatened to form on that climb. All back together for now and this fight for the break could go on for some time.

Italian attacker Marco Frigo (NSN) was the rider who led the group over that first ascent, but the peloton is back together now.

Splits are forming in the peloton as they crest the first climb of the day.

Several riders have been trying to attack off the front on this first climb, includnig the likes of US champion Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) but no break has formed yet.

Straight from the start the riders will be on the approach to the first categorised climb of the day: the Col de la Croix de l’Arbre (4km at 4.1%).

Respect on the start line between Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Vauequelin, and Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), who successfully defended the yellow jersey yesterday.