The heat? Breakaways are better: Pedersen's secret to stage 4 of the Tour de France

With temperatures soaring to 40 degrees, common sense would suggest staying in the peloton, keeping pace, and conserving energy in the heat of the Tour de France . Yet, the reality can be quite different.

Attacking, joining the breakaway, and going all out for the stage win might seem like a crazy undertaking, especially when the riders arrived at the start of stage 4 from Carcassonne already sweaty and exhausted, their jersey pockets packed with ice in a desperate attempt to cool their body temperature. But the day's winner, Mads Pedersen , revealed a tactical backstory that was anything but trivial: "The heat is really tough, but in a breakaway it's a little easier, because you always have the team car close by," said the Lidl-Trek rider after donning the green jersey.

This refers to the team's support vehicle: when a rider breaks away, the team can send one of its two cars directly behind the lead group, ensuring immediate supplies of water, ice, and mechanical assistance. In the main peloton, however, the cars travel in a long convoy behind the peloton, ordered according to the general classification. This means extremely long waits for assistance, with the rider forced to slide from the front to the back of the pack to get water bottles, only to then have to climb back up the entire line.

In the breakaway, however, there are few riders and few teams : the cars are always within reach, and in addition there are hydration motorcycles from the sponsor Vittel, ready to distribute water along the route.

"Honestly, having the cars so close together all the time makes it much easier to cool down," Pedersen confirmed. "You can go get water and ice at any time. When it's hot, being on the run is definitely a winning strategy."

Pedersen also acknowledged that he had an additional advantage: two teammates in the breakaway, Mathias Vacek and Quinn Simmons , who did much of the dirty work, setting the stage for his eventual success with near-perfect management of the situation.

"When we talk about teamwork, we don't just mean the work on the bike: there were tons of people along the road with water and ice to keep us cool. We used up a lot of water bottles today, but having a great team definitely makes a difference," concluded the Dane.

Photo: Sprint Cycling Agency