The extreme weather protocol was triggered for the Tour de l’Avenir because of the heatwave. It was 37.5 degrees at the finish line of stage 4 in Evaux-les-Bains at the end of a day spent on the beautiful roads of the Indre and Creuse regions, but shortened by one of the two final loops to 133km.
However, Swiss rider Fabio Christen was still fresh enough to resist the return of the peloton and win by a few lengths as a reward for his attack on the final loop, during which he caught Mexican rider Isaac Del Toro on the last climb.
The value of Fabio Christen is already well known, as the Swiss rider is a member of the pro team Q 36.5, which was created this year.
In the overall classification, one Dane can always hide another as the previous leader Carl-Frederik Bevort, who very quickly ran into difficulties, was replaced in the CIC yellow jersey by his compatriot Simon Dalby, who was in the same second at the end of the team time trial. This is the third Danish yellow jersey in four days (after Foldager’s victory on the first day) and Simon Dalby is ahead of three riders from the French team, Mathys Rondel and Axel Huens, both 13 seconds behind and Pierre Thierry, who was caught up in a break and is now fourth at 22 seconds.
The heatwave alert that has placed the departments of the south-east on red watch has led to the extreme weather protocol for the 5th stage being brought forward by two hours (start at 10.30 am) to avoid the hottest hours for this approach to the mountains from La Tour de Salvagny, in the Lyon region, to Lake Aiguebelette, in Savoie, where the finish will be judged at the bottom of the descent of the côte du Terreau, one of the two 3rd category difficulties in the last fifteen kilometres.
