Tour de France stage four: Sisteron – Orcières-Merlette

The riders tackled the first summit finish of the 2020 Tour de France earlier than normal but the fourth stage to Orcières-Merlette provided the first shake-up among the overall contenders.

Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and François Thomazeau convene at a restaurant in the mountain resort, which has a very distinct out of season feel. With few holidaymakers around, the open air disco felt a bit incongruous.

Nevertheless the Tour remains the Tour and after the first serious test of climbing there’s little doubt that Vuelta a España champion Primoz Roglic is the strongest rider and his team, Jumbo-Visma, are the strongest team – for now, at least.

It was a day for Slovenia to celebrate – a one-two at the finish with their young talent Tadej Pogacar also hinting that he will be a feature in the big mountains to come.

But what about Ineos Grenadiers, who appeared to be marching somewhat out of step at this early stage of the race, although defending champion Egan Bernal is right in the thick of things at the top of the overall standings.

iwoca became The Cycling Podcast’s title sponsors in March 2020. iwoca specialises in supporting small businesses and can lend between £1,000 and £250,000. iwoca have been accredited by the British Business Bank to offer CBILS (Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans Scheme) – the scheme is now open, so businesses can apply for a loan rather than just register interest. To find out more, go to iwoca.co.uk

Science in Sport is The Cycling Podcast’s longest-standing supporter. It’s a relationship that stretches back to the 2016 Giro d’Italia. Listeners can get 25% off Science In Sport’s range of energy drinks, bars, gels and cakes at scienceinsport.com with the code SISCP25

The next generation Wattbike Atom is supporting all our Tour de France coverage this year. The new Wattbike Atom is available from £90 per month at wattbike.com

DVinecellars has curated a selection of wines matched to the Tour de France for us. Choose from the green jersey, polka-dot jersey, yellow jersey or Grand Tour cases at https://www.dvinecellars.com/ 

Tune into Kilometre 0, our weekday morning show, every Monday to Friday during the Tour.