Key events
Paula Blasi is down on that Nooijen time, 45 seconds down. Reusser will be rather closer. Marianne Vos is the latest at the start. Pauline Prevot is roared up the hill by the home support, the defending champ digging deep in her time trial suit. Demi Vollering will be next.
Reusser, the world time trial champion, approaches the intermediate time check.
Marlen Reusser, big favourite for the stage, is on the course.
By 16.28 UK time, all the riders will have taken to the course. The GC standings for Wednesday’s stage will be set in the next hour.
Paula Blasi, this year’s Vuelta winner, sets off at quite a lick. She’s riding as a domestique for Elisa Longo Borghini in the UAE team.
Footage of those at the start shows riders icing their wrists to cool down. Cold water being poured down necks. This really has been a long, hot summer.
Backstedt misses out by 14 seconds, and she is second overall on the stage. Just how fast was Nooijen? That’s a mighty time for the remaining riders to surpass.
Just 16 riders left to set off, they do so at intervals of 30 seconds.
Backstedt goes over the hill-top checkpoint, and is in second by just two seconds. In fact, it was just 29 hundredths of a second slower. All to ride for now.
To follow that ice sock revelation.
Riders at the Tour de France Femmes were subject to extra clothing checks before Tuesday’s stage following claims some could be using extra padding in their bras to seek an aerodynamic advantage.
A communique from race organisers confirmed the checks after Dutch outlet Wielerflits reported some teams had raised concerns that padded bras could smooth the airflow around the body for the stage four time trial.
“Riders must be to the final checks before the race (bikes and outfit) no later than 10 minutes before their respective start time,” the communique said.
“Particular attention will be paid to compliance with article 1.3.032 of the UCI regulations, including non-essential elements and clothing or other items/accessories worn by a rider (including but not limited to helmets, glasses, shoes or in-race communication devices) which could modify riders’ morphology.”
Backstedt is flying along, and taking down the riders ahead of her. We await her checkpoint times.
Lieke Nooijen lays down huge marker and sets fastest lap
Lieke Nooijen surges to the top of the tree, the Visma rider at 27’34”, 51 seconds faster than Claes. Mischa Bredewold comes in second, but fully 41 seconds behind her compatriot, though a little close to her SD Worx–Protime teammate. Was she slipstreaming?
The Briton, Zoe Backstedt, who is cycling royalty as a daughter of a Paris-Roubaix winner and a UK national champion, takes to the track. She’s a time trial specialist, as a junior world champion.
Footage of the riders as they come in shows the sheer pain of the conditions and the test they are having to undergo. We are told that ice socks are banned for this event as they melt too fast, and are banned for aerodynamic reasons.
Excellent ride from Millie Couzens, with a time of 28’38”, second in the clubhouse, 13” slower than Fenix-Premier Tech teammate Lotte Claes. The British rider, from Banbury, is one of serious promise.
Lotte Claes has set the new fastest time, another Belgian going well, in 28’25’, knocking 24 seconds off Tas. That’s a decent time; it’s 32 degrees in Dijon.
There was no time trial last year but in 2024, the winner was Demi Vollering, on her home patch of Rotterdam, in a Tour she ended up losing by just four seconds from Katarzyna Niewiadoma.
Over half the field has taken to the course, with 70 riders having started, and 41 of those arrived, with Tas still leading the pack. It may take something to beat her.
Sandrine Tas of Lotto Intermarché has set a new benchmark in Dijon: 28’49’’39, just 0.96 second faster than Le Mouël. The Belgian is the one to beat.
The live footage has just started on the TV broadcast. It goes without saying that the countryside is idyllic as the overhead drones take it in.
With 10 riders having completed the course, the best time so far is Célia Le Mouël, from Ma Petite Entreprise, with a time of 28’ 50, the French champion time trialist landing quite the marker.
Via the official site: “World and European ITT champion Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team) is set to showcase her time-trialling prowess as of 17:08 CEST. There’s another continental champion. Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly), who dominated the ITT at the Pan American Championships in March. As for the national champions, 12 of them will be representing their countries today.”
15:00 – Célia Le Mouël, France
15:18 – Yuliia Biriukova, Ukraine
15:22 – Daniek Hengeveld, Netherlands
15:38 – Lotte Claes, Belgium
15:48 – Nina Berton, Luxembourg
15:51 – Franziska Koch, Germany
16:19 – Mireia Benito, Spain
16:24 – Nadia Gontova, Canada
16:29 – Zoe Bäckstedt, Great Britain
16:40 – Katrine Aalerud, Norway
16:42 – Dominika Wlodarczyk, Poland
17:26 – Kim Le Court-Pienaar, Mauritius
The first rider of 138 to go will be Romina Hinojosa of Cruzlotto Intermarche, who suffered on the third stage. From her team’s Insta page: “”We did it” 🥺 Romina Hinojosa & Dina Boels. We experienced one of the hardest days in Tour de France Femmes, losing 3 riders. Dina and Romina fought together for 60 kilometers to finish within time limits and they made it.”
Here’s today’s stage map via the official site.
Monday saw that amazing breakaway victory.
Haugset’s spectacular solo effort surprised the peloton’s leading teams and on the eve of the 21km individual time trial, from Gevrey‑Chambertin to Dijon, she leads by 2min 2sec from Kim Le Court.
“I was thinking about all my teammates and everyone cheering from home, so I had to give it my all,” she said. “All done in the Norwegian champion’s jersey, too – it’s fantastic.
“We had looked at this stage and it was the goal for this Tour. I told my father I’d get some flowers today. Tomorrow is the time trial, but I haven’t worked on it this year so I will just enjoy it.”
GC before stage four
1 S Haugset Ytterhus (Nor) Uno-X Mobility 11h 17:56s
2 K Le Court (Fra) AG Insurance-Soudal Team +2m 02s
3 D Vollering (Ned) FDJ United-SUEZ +2:06
4 N Ruegg (Swi) EF Education-Oatly +2:10
5 M Vos (Ned) Team Visma | Lease a Bike at same time<
Preamble
Time trial day is moving day in any stage race and today’s should be no exception.
How much did Monday’s breakaway from Sigrid Haugset, over 90km, take out of her? What can her rivals and other favourites take from her? Her lead is two minutes, easily eaten up on a stage that will ask a few questions.
It’s a hilly stage, with an ascent of 2km halfway through. The main favourites for overall GC, reigning champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Demi Vollering, all finished together, almost three minutes behind Haugset yesterday.
First race goes around 1.30 UK time/2.30 local time. Join me.
