GC and jerseys after Tour de France 2026 stage 4

Torstein Træen moved into the yellow jersey after stage 4 of the Tour de France 2026, as a major breakaway reshaped the general classification on the road to Foix.

Mads Pedersen won the stage for Lidl-Trek, beating teammate Quinn Simmons in a one-two finish after the decisive move stayed clear. Raul Garcia Pierna finished third for Movistar, with the breakaway gaining enough time to transform the top of the GC. For the full stage story, see our Tour de France 2026 stage 4 report.

Tadej Pogačar started the day in yellow, level on time with Jonas Vingegaard after his stage 3 victory at Les Angles, but UAE Team Emirates XRG allowed the breakaway to take a large margin. The result means Træen now leads the Tour, while Pogačar and Vingegaard both sit 7:53 behind the Norwegian after four stages.

Tour de France 2026 GC after stage 4

Rank	Rider	Team	Time / gap
1	Torstein Træen	Uno-X Mobility	13:02:46
2	Sean Quinn	EF Education-EasyPost	+0:28
3	Mathias Vacek	Lidl-Trek	+3:50
4	Tadej Pogačar	UAE Team Emirates XRG	+7:53
5	Jonas Vingegaard	Team Visma-Lease a Bike	+7:53
6	Ramses Debruyne	Alpecin-Premier Tech	+8:06
7	Remco Evenepoel	Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe	+8:16
8	Isaac del Toro	UAE Team Emirates XRG	+8:17
9	Juan Ayuso	Lidl-Trek	+8:20
10	Paul Seixas	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	+8:41

Yellow jersey: Torstein Træen

Træen is the new race leader after finishing inside the front group on a stage that began with hilly danger and ended with a full GC reset. The Uno-X Mobility rider now leads Sean Quinn by 28 seconds, with Mathias Vacek third at 3:50.

The bigger question is how long Træen can realistically hold the jersey. He has a sizeable gap over the pre-race favourites, but the Tour has barely reached the end of its opening week. Pogačar, Vingegaard, Evenepoel, Del Toro, Ayuso and Seixas are now all between 7:53 and 8:41 down, which sounds large but is not necessarily decisive with the Pyrenees, Massif Central, Vosges, Jura and Alps still to come.

The wider route still gives the GC riders plenty of terrain to work with, as covered in our Tour de France 2026 full route guide. Stage 4 may have changed the jersey wearer, but it has not settled the Tour.

From UAE’s point of view, the outcome may not be disastrous. Pogačar gives up daily podium duties and media pressure, while still sitting level with Vingegaard and ahead of Evenepoel in the favourites’ race. Visma-Lease a Bike, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and UAE now have a different problem: they no longer control yellow, but they also do not need to carry the weight of the race.

Green jersey: Mads Pedersen

Pedersen’s stage win also sent him into the green jersey. He now leads the points classification with 103 points, well clear of Pogačar on 55 and Vingegaard on 44. Quinn Simmons is fourth on 42 after finishing second in Foix, while Isaac del Toro and Biniam Girmay are level on 39.

Rank	Rider	Team	Points
1	Mads Pedersen	Lidl-Trek	103
2	Tadej Pogačar	UAE Team Emirates XRG	55
3	Jonas Vingegaard	Team Visma-Lease a Bike	44
4	Quinn Simmons	Lidl-Trek	42
5	Isaac del Toro	UAE Team Emirates XRG	39
6	Biniam Girmay	NSN Cycling Team	39
7	Remco Evenepoel	Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe	33
8	Tobias Halland Johannessen	Uno-X Mobility	32
9	Jasper Philipsen	Alpecin-Premier Tech	30
10	Paul Seixas	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	28

This is already a strong position for Pedersen. The Tour has still not had a conventional bunch sprint, yet he has a commanding points lead after turning a breakaway day into a stage win. That is the ideal green jersey scenario for a rider of his type: he has taken points where the pure sprinters could not, while still having the engine to contest flatter stages later in the race.

The stage 5 finish in Pau should give the sprinters a clearer chance, but Pedersen has already put several of them under pressure. Jasper Philipsen and Biniam Girmay are both in the top 10, but they now need proper sprint days to claw the gap back.

Polka dot jersey: Alex Baudin

Alex Baudin retained the mountains jersey after stage 4. The EF Education-EasyPost rider remains on 12 points, with Alex Molenaar second on 10 and Nicolas Prodhomme third on 9. Raul Garcia Pierna’s third place on the stage helped move him to fourth in the mountains classification with 7 points.

Rank	Rider	Team	Points
1	Alex Baudin	EF Education-EasyPost	12
2	Alex Molenaar	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	10
3	Nicolas Prodhomme	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	9
4	Raul Garcia Pierna	Movistar Team	7
5	Jan Tratnik	Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe	5
6	Marco Frigo	NSN Cycling Team	5
7	Brandon McNulty	UAE Team Emirates XRG	4
8	Vlad Van Mechelen	Bahrain Victorious	4
9	Tadej Pogačar	UAE Team Emirates XRG	3
10	Mathias Vacek	Lidl-Trek	3

The polka dot jersey is still in its early phase. Stage 4 had enough climbing to matter, as outlined in our stage 4 preview, but the points available on these early hills will be dwarfed once the race reaches the bigger mountain stages. For now, Baudin has done enough to keep the jersey, but the contest remains wide open.

The first major shift may come quickly. Stage 6 to Gavarnie-Gèdre brings the Tourmalet and a summit finish, which should begin to separate opportunists from genuine long-term mountains classification contenders. That Pyrenean phase is covered in more detail in our Tour de France 2026 Pyrenees guide.

White jersey: Mathias Vacek

Mathias Vacek took over the white jersey after joining the decisive breakaway and finishing in the front group. He is now third overall and leads the young rider classification, 4:16 ahead of Ramses Debruyne and 4:27 ahead of previous white jersey holder Isaac del Toro.

Rank	Rider	Team	Time / gap
1	Mathias Vacek	Lidl-Trek	13:06:36
2	Ramses Debruyne	Alpecin-Premier Tech	+4:16
3	Isaac del Toro	UAE Team Emirates XRG	+4:27
4	Juan Ayuso	Lidl-Trek	+4:30
5	Paul Seixas	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	+4:51
6	Lennert Van Eetvelt	Lotto Intermarché	+5:12
7	Lenny Martinez	Bahrain Victorious	+5:50
8	Davide Piganzoli	Team Visma-Lease a Bike	+6:18
9	Cian Uijtdebroeks	Movistar Team	+7:27
10	Pablo Castrillo	Movistar Team	+7:32

This is now a very different white jersey race. Del Toro, Ayuso and Seixas had looked like the central figures after the opening mountain test at Les Angles, but Vacek and Debruyne have jumped ahead through the breakaway.

Vacek’s lead is useful, but it will be tested hard. Del Toro, Ayuso, Seixas, Van Eetvelt and Martinez all have stronger climbing credentials for the bigger mountain days. The white jersey is now split between riders who gained time tactically and riders who may be better suited to the Tour’s hardest climbs.

That gives the young rider competition a different shape. Vacek has the advantage on the clock, but the coming climbing block will show whether this is a genuine long-term lead or a breakaway-powered cushion waiting to be eroded.

Team classification: Lidl-Trek

Lidl-Trek were the big winners across the classifications. Pedersen won the stage, Simmons finished second, Vacek moved into third overall and the team also took control of the team classification. Lidl-Trek now lead on 39:04:13, with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe second at 19:12 and EF Education-EasyPost third at 21:48.

Rank	Team	Gap
1	Lidl-Trek	39:04:13
2	Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe	+19:12
3	EF Education-EasyPost	+21:48
4	Movistar Team	+26:05
5	UAE Team Emirates XRG	+32:33

It was close to a perfect day for Lidl-Trek. They controlled the stage result from inside the breakaway, placed several riders in key positions and now have riders relevant in the stage-win, points, GC, young rider and team classification stories.

That matters because the Tour is often built on layered success. One stage win is valuable. A stage win plus green, white, third overall and the team lead is a much broader return.

Combativity prize: Pablo Castrillo

Pablo Castrillo was awarded the combativity prize after an aggressive ride for Movistar. He finished inside the front group and also moved into the top 10 of the young rider classification. Movistar were another team to gain from the day, with Raul Garcia Pierna third on the stage and Castrillo helping lift the team into fourth in the team classification.

It was exactly the kind of day that rewards riders willing to commit before the favourites are ready to race. Stage 4 had been one of the more obvious early breakaway opportunities on the route, and Castrillo made himself visible in a move that altered far more than the stage result. Our guide to the best breakaway stages at the Tour de France 2026 explains why days like this can become so important in the opening week.

What changed after stage 4?

Stage 4 changed the Tour in three ways.

First, yellow moved away from the main GC favourites. That takes pressure off Pogačar, but it also means UAE Team Emirates XRG no longer dictates the race simply by defending the jersey.

Second, Lidl-Trek became the story of the day. Pedersen now leads green, Vacek leads white, Simmons sits high on GC and the team classification has swung heavily in their direction.

Third, the time gaps created by the breakaway have made the GC table look unusual. Træen, Quinn and Vacek now occupy the podium positions, but the favourites’ race still has Pogačar and Vingegaard level with each other, Evenepoel at 23 seconds behind them, and Del Toro, Ayuso and Seixas still close together in that same block.

That means stage 4 has changed the jersey picture more than it has changed the deeper hierarchy. The race lead has shifted, but the main contenders are still tightly grouped behind.

What comes next?

Stage 5 takes the race from Lannemezan to Pau, a 158.3km route that should give the sprinters their clearest opportunity so far. After four stages shaped by a team time-trial, uphill finishes, GC pressure and a major breakaway, the fast men finally have a realistic target.

That makes the green jersey the most likely competition to change again, especially if Philipsen, Girmay, Tim Merlier, Olav Kooij or another pure sprinter can finally bring the race back onto familiar ground.

The yellow jersey battle may pause briefly, but only briefly. With Gavarnie-Gèdre and the Tourmalet waiting on stage 6, Træen’s time in yellow is about to face its first serious mountain test. The stage is one of the key early GC days in the race and features prominently in our guide to the Tour de France 2026 mountain stages ranked by difficulty.