In a nominally uneventful 4th class climb, Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) accelerated quickly uphill to take a surprising victory in the Tour de France leader's jersey.

In the 2021 Tour de France, Van Aert won Mont Ventoux, the Saint-Emilion time trial, and the Champs-Elysées.

But at the end of stage 4, on the seemingly easy climb up Cap Blanc Nez, Jumbo Visma's sustained acceleration proved otherwise. [It was not Primoš Roglic or Jonas Vingegaard, but Van Aert who was the last of the yellow-and-black rocket about 500 meters from the summit. Although he only took a maximum 30-second lead over the next undulating 10km, the Belgian never looked like flagging on his way to his seventh career Tour victory.

As Van Aert said afterward, "The course was up and down and tough. So the goal was to go for both the GC and the green jersey."

"There were 50 points at the finish line, and if it had been a bit windier we might have tried something for Jonas and Primosch. But we knew that going hard on the climb would be good for both goals."

Van Aert holds a 25-second lead over Yves Lampert (Alfa Vinyl-Quick Step), holding yellow for the third day in a row. He is also 61 points ahead of his closest opponent, Fabio Jacobsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), whose lead in the green jersey is his main goal in this race. At the same point last year, eventual winner Mark Cavendish's lead was only 7 points.

A stage win, yellow or green, was never more than a possibility for Van Aat.

"Maybe I was the most patient person in the whole world, the one who was sure that victory would come.

"In Denmark, I was happy to show what I could do, but I didn't expect to finish second in the first two group sprints.

"I knew everything was right for me this week. So of course I was motivated to win this jersey. It was a really special day for me and one that I will remember for a long time."

Van Aat flapped his arms as he crossed the line, as if to mimic flying. The yellow jersey gave me wings," he said. And after dodging the peloton alone for 10km, it was hard to disagree. But when talking about how Jumbo Visma seized the opportunity, Van Aat paid tribute to his teammates, who were the catalyst for the day's success.

"Nathan van Hooydonk put us in front, just like he did so well this spring.

"Later, when Tiesj Benoot took over, I and the whole group were at our limits.

"Of course I didn't expect to end up alone, but I saw Jonas behind me with another guy (Adam Yates).

"So I was immediately informed that it was safe to go for the stage win with the other GC riders. But the distance was still too long. 0]

When asked if VanArt would have continued on if he had received word that one of the GC racers in the Jumbo Visma was struggling, he replied rather eloquently, "Of course, I would have turned around and helped Primosch," but the question of whether the Dutch team, with their various The question of how they intend to organize their goals remains an interesting one.

Before the stage, Van Aert's teammate Christophe Laporte made it clear that the yellow jerseys of Vingegaard and Roglic would take precedence over Van Aert's green on a stage like Paris-Roubaix on Wednesday. But as praise for his talent has grown and Van Aert's hold on the yellow has strengthened, so has speculation.

"It's always difficult to predict what the stage will be like, and it's important for Jonas and Primoz to stay out of trouble," Van Aert replied when asked about the team's priorities on Wednesday. But we go into this stage with a lot of confidence and see it as a chance to try something on GC." We have a lot of classic riders on the team, so we are looking forward to these stages.

While a Tour de France stage win is a morale booster for any team, Jumbo Visma has the added bonus of being the first GC team to achieve the bull's-eye. In the end, however, it was Van Aert's victory, and he was complimented by Bernard Inaud (now a former ASO turned French TV analyst).

"He's always there, he runs a great race and I like his style.

"He's everywhere, in cyclocross, in the classics, in the Tour.