Summary

  • Britain's Mark Cavendish claims his 31st stage win at the Tour

  • First Tour stage win for Cavendish since 2016

  • Belgium's Eddy Merckx holds record at 34 stage wins

  • Mathieu van der Poel wears the leader's yellow jersey

  • Geraint Thomas races despite dislocating his shoulder on stage three

  • Stage four: Redon - Fougeres, 150.4 km

Live Reporting

Steve Sutcliffe

  1. Au revoir

    Mark CavendishGetty Images
    Mark CavendishGetty Images
    Mark CavendishGetty Images

    That's where our live page comes to an end.

    The longest individual time trial in the opening week of the Tour since 2008 awaits the riders tomorrow.

    But what about today. How many times has Mark Cavendish been written off in recent years? You can read all about his remarkable victory in our report on stage four.

    Thanks for joining me. Au revoir.

  2. General classification standings

    Very little change on the GC after stage four:

    1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned/Alpecin-Fenix) 16hrs 19mins 10secs

    2. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Deceuninck-Quick-Step) +8 secs

    3. Richard Carapaz (Ecu/Ineos Grenadiers) +31secs

    4. Wout van Aert (Bel/Jumbo Visma) Same time

    5. Wilco Kelderman (Ned/Bora-Hansgrohe) +38secs

    6. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE-Team Emirates) +39secs

    7. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) +40secs

    8. Nairo Quintana (Col/Arkea Samsic) Same time

    9. Pierre Latour (Fra/TotalEnergies) +45secs

    10. David Gaudu (Fra/Groupama-FDJ) +52secs

  3. Stage four results

    Stage four results:

    1. Mark Cavendish (GB/Deceuninck-Quick-Step 3hrs 20mins 17secs

    2. Nacer Bouhanni (Fra/Arkea Samsic) Same time

    3. Jasper Philipsen (Bel/Alpecin-Fenix)

    4. Michael Matthews (Aus/BikeExchange)

    5.Peter Sagan (Svk/Bora-Hansgrohe)

    6. Cees Bol (Ned/DSM)

    7. Christophe Laporte (Fra/Cofidis)

    8. Mads Pedersen (Den/Trek-Segafredo)

    9. Boy van Poppel (Ned/Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux)

    10. Andre Greipel (Ger/Israel Start-Up Nation)

  4. That was fairy-tale stuff from Mark Cavendish in Fougeres.

    Full results to follow.

  5. What a comeback. A man that spans generations.

    Mark Cavendish is going to be back in the green jersey that he won in 2011.

    Mark CavendishGetty Images

  6. 'So many people didn't believe in me'

    Mark CavendishGetty Images

    An emotional Mark Cavendish: "I don't what to say, man. Just being here is special enough. I didn't think I'd ever get to come back to this race.

    "Fire man, just fire from the whole team. We didn't know if we were going to get them.

    "You just see what a team this is, you've got the green jersey, the world champion, he comes to get the final pull to catch the breakaway.

    "So many people didn't believe in me, and these guys do and they did.

    "The stars aligned, somehow. I never ever want bad things to happen to other people but after the last year it's just nice to have some good luck for myself. "

  7. What timing. What poise. You just can't write Mark Cavendish off.

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy and privacy policy before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

  8. 'This is what it means'

    At one point I thought Mark Cavendish was going to cross wheels with Jasper Philipsen.

    It looked as though he had to stop his sprint and then restart. That was simply stunning.

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy and privacy policy before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

  9. Mark Cavendish looks hugely emotional. What a victory this is.

    Who would have believed this was possible. He wasn't even coming to the Tour de France a couple of weeks back.

  10. Absolute scenes in the Deceuninck-Quick-Step camp.

    The whole team is hugging Mark Cavendish.

    That's 31 stage wins in total for the Manx Missile, who moves within three stage victories of Eddy Merckx's all-time record of 34.

  11. Mark Cavendish wins stage four

    Mark CavendishGetty Images

    AMAZING.

    Mark Cavendish wins his first stage at the Tour de France since 2016.

  12. Here comes Mark Cavendish, his path seems to be blocked...

  13. Is anyone going to catch him?

  14. Julian Alaphilippe is absolutely smashing this. in a bid to catch Van Moer

  15. Michael Morkov and Mark Cavendish are in attendance, they are 15 seconds back

  16. Brent van Moer has got his head down, can he hang on?

  17. Down to 33 seconds. There are some huge efforts on the front of the peloton to claw this back.

  18. This would be some response from Lotto Soudal who lost their head honcho, Caleb Ewan, on Monday.

  19. Still 45 seconds.... this is going to go down to the wire.

  20. Here comes the peloton. Julian Alaphilippe and Deceuninck-Quick-Step are making a move.