Tour de France rider Træen takes yellow jersey on stage four

Tour de France organizers added extra water bottles and additional drinks motorbikes for stage four after forecasts showed temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius across 181 kilometres and four categorised climbs. The measures were introduced on a trial basis after the UCI and ASO agreed to relax feeding rules for the remainder of the race.

Stage result and jersey change Mads Pedersen won the sprint finish into Foix.

Torstein Træen, 30, crossed the line in the main group and took the yellow jersey, moving eight minutes ahead of Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard on the general classification. Træen was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2022 after a random doping control flagged abnormalities.

” After the stage he said the yellow jersey was “a pleasure to be here” and that he felt “pretty well” despite the heat, noting it was easier to receive drinks while in the breakaway.

Heat protocols and rider reaction Pedersen said teams have established cooling protocols for races in France and Spain and that racing would stop if conditions became dangerous. Pascal Chanteur of the professional riders union said the extra bottles were “the least worst option” and did not solve the underlying problem.

He called for start times to shift from June to September to reduce heat exposure. Jonathan Vaughters, manager of EF Education-EasyPost, said some riders and teams would handle the conditions better than others. Richard Plugge, manager of Visma-Lease a Bike, noted spectators standing roadside for hours faced greater risk than the riders themselves.