• Elia Viviani won Stage 4 of the Tour de France in a bunch sprint to the finish.
• It’s the first Tour stage win for the 30-year-old Italian sprinter.
• Julian Alaphilippe continues to lead the General Classification by 20 seconds over Wout Van Aert and 25 seconds over Steven Kruijswijk.

Elia Viviani earned a career-milestone win on Tuesday when the Italian sprinter won Stage 4 of the 2019 Tour de France.

The Deceuninck–Quick-Step rider took a narrow victory in a messy, 70 kph bunch sprint to the finish in Nancy. After a long stage with only one mild categorized climb coming in the final 15K, both sprinters and overall contenders traded positions at the front as support riders tried to rein in rivals during the final few kilometres.

Viviani just beat out Alexander Kristoff and Caleb Ewan, who placed second and third, respectively, when the group crossed the line. It’s the first-ever Tour de France stage win for the 30-year-old sprinter, who’s won five stages at the Giro d’Italia and three at the Vuelta a España. He also took the Points Classification in the 2018 Giro.

“I just needed to do my job in the last 180 metres,” an out-of-breath Viviani told reporters after the stage.

Peter Sagan, who continues to lead the Tour’s Points Classification in his pursuit of a record-breaking seventh green jersey, placed fourth in a photo finish. Dylan Groenewegen, still recovering from a late-race crash on Stage 1, came in fifth.

As expected, not much changed in the overall rankings. Viviani’s teammate Julian Alaphilippe, who took the yellow jersey after a commanding win on Stage 3, continues to lead Jumbo–Visma’s Wout van Aert by 20 seconds and Steven Kruijswijk by 25 seconds. Team Ineos’s pre-race favorite Egan Bernal and defending champion Geraint Thomas remain in sixth and seventh place, at :40 and :45 behind the leader.

Only two teams have won stages at the 2019 Tour so far: Jumbo on the first two days, Deceuninck–Quick-Step on the most previous two.

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