Three-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar won Stage 4 after several late climbs and inched closer to yellow jersey holder Mathieu van der Peul.

Belgian rider Tim Merlier has won the crash-marred third stage of the Tour de France in a photo finish and Mathieu Van der Poel has kept the yellow jersey.

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.