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A three-week Grand Tour will always contain natural ebbs and flows, and, for much of Monday’s stage between Valenciennes and Dunkirk, it looked as if the peloton had declared an unofficial rest day, with the riders happy to cruise back towards the coast after a weekend of wind, rain and intensity.

After a win two days ago, Mathieu Van der Poel stuck close to today’s Stage 4 winner Tadej Pogačar to hold tight to his

Map and profile of 209km route as Jasper Philipsen fights to keep yellow jersey - The yellow jersey is likely to change hands after just one day’s action thanks to some punchy late climbs

Tour de France kicks off on July 5 as the Grand Départ returns to France, with the peloton set to roll out from Lille after three foreign starts.