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FWC: SUI vs COL live on SN ExtraCancer survivor claims yellow jersey in Tour de France
Press Association • July 8th, 2026 6:00 am
Norwegian cyclist Torstein Traeen on the podium wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey | Photo: EPA
Torstein Traeen has taken the yellow jersey from Tadej Pogacar after Mads Pedersen outsprinted his breakaway rivals to win stage four of the Tour de France in Foix.
Former world champion Pedersen made it look easy as he surged clear of a small group to take his first win since stage 15 of last year's Vuelta a Espana, and first Tour win since 2023, with his Lidl-Trek team-mate Quinn Simmons coming second for good measure.
Traeen, diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2022 after a routine anti-doping test, was eighth on the day and moved into yellow.
Matthews led the chasing pack home, finishing 11th 2:27 behind.
Mads Pedersen is joyous as he reaches the finish to win the fourth stage of the Tour de France | Photo: AP
The main peloton finishing some 13 minutes later, Pogacar happy to hand over the responsibilities of race leader a day after his stage win in Les Angles.
Every time the Tour has visited Foix it has ended in a breakaway win and it soon became obvious this day would be no different as 34 riders, including Australia's Michael Matthews, went clear in sweltering temperatures touching 40C in south-west France.
The break splintered on the final climb with Matthews among those dropped, but Lidl-Trek managed to get three riders in the front group of 10 and they were able to control a series of late attacks to set up Pedersen.
"This was I would say a masterpiece of teamwork," the Dane said. "I was suffering a lot on the last climb but with Quinn and (Mathias) Vacek it was an incredible day, they did incredibly well on the climb to pace it for me and make sure we didn't lose too much time.
"They were just machines to the finish. What a team effort, what a team win today."
Uno-X Mobility's Traeen, who spent four days in red at last season's Vuelta, had started the day five minutes off yellow.
"I think it's quite hard for me to understand how big it is," the Norwegian said. "You can see the face of my coach, the soigneur, everybody, you see how special it is but for me at the moment I don't really understand what's going on. Maybe in a couple of days it will sink in."
Sean Quinn moved up to second overall with Vacek third, three minutes 50 seconds down.
Pogacar is fourth, almost eight minutes down and on the same time as his rival Jonas Vingegaard as they save resources for later in the Tour.
Jai Hindley remains the leading Australian on GC, in 34th 13.54 off the lead.
Kiwi cycling star Aaron Gate on his Tour de France debut | Sport Nation Mornings
