The fourth stage of the Tour de France, which ended on the shores of Calais, was supposed to be the last showcase for the peloton's sprinters for some time.

But the chance to follow in the wheel tracks of Fabio Jacobsen and Dylan Groenewegen and have one last battle in 10 days was ultimately denied to the fast men by a brilliant late solo attack by Wout Van Aert.

In the end, Alpecin-Desseuninck sprinter Jasper Philipsen led the peloton in second place, celebrating as he and Van Aert crossed paths. Further back, Jacobsen, wearing the green jersey instead of Van Aert, sprinted in 12th place, with Groenewegen finishing 1:33 behind in 122nd.

Speaking to Cycling News after the stage, Jacobsen said that Jumbo Visma had perfected the tactic of attacking on the final climb of the Côte du Cap Blanc Nez, adding that Van Aert was the strongest rider in the race.

"I think Jumbo took a perfect team tactic with Wout. He's probably the strongest rider in the group, so congratulations to him," Jacobsen said.

"I was in position heading into the last straight and got surrounded a little bit, but I didn't have the legs to sprint.

"My legs broke a bit on the climb, but you always had to try. Unfortunately I didn't get any points or results, but I'm happy. Tomorrow we go for the cobbles."

Jacobsen, sitting on the steps of the Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl bus, dressed in a green skinsuit, said he will continue to fight for points awards. He is currently in second place in the standings, already 61 points behind Van Aert.

He noted that anything can happen in the battle for the green jersey during the Tour, with Marcel Kittel crashing out of the green jersey in the 2017 Tour and Peter Sagan being disqualified early in the race, perhaps the most recent example.

"No, I think I need to collect points to compete," Jacobsen said, noting that there are three or four sprint opportunities left in the race. 'It probably won't matter to me, and I don't know what's going to happen. It's not the first time the leader of the green jersey has been in the race.

"It's always a bike race. As a sprinter, I think you always have to go for the green. Last year Mark Cavendish showed us that it is possible. The jersey will be handed to me in Paris, so I'm looking forward to that."

Jakobsen also mentioned his relationship with Cavendish, another Quick-Step Alfa Vinyl sprinter; the two were both vying for a spot in the team's Tour sprint, but as Cavendish has pointed out in the past, reports that the two are not getting along reports that the two were not getting along, as Cavendish has pointed out in the past, were off the mark, he said.

"Also, I want to clarify something. I saw in some interview somewhere that Mark Cavendish said or was told that he had not yet given me his blessing, and he did. But he did give me his blessing." [He messaged me right away. We are very good friends, I respect him and he is a legend to me. I respect him, I love him, he's like a brother to me, I just want to say that."

Jacobsen finished in the main peloton, but with Van Aert in front of him, he was still far from winning; BikeExchange-Jayco sprinter Dylan Groenewegen disappeared from the pack, and the stage went as he and his teammates had pre thought it was going to be, he said later.

Teammate Michael Matthews finished inside the top 10, and Groenewegen praised his team, but admitted Tuesday, two days after his victory in Sønderborg, that his legs were not up to it.

"It's exactly what I was thinking before, eh?" Groenewegen said as he emerged from the team bus after his post-stage shower. It was going to be a hard stage, but we could have made it a group sprint." [When I saw the peloton split, my legs were really empty. I had a really good third stage and the team was really great today.

"He was flying on the climbs and after that I don't know, but he was too strong for anyone. I'm still happy with the legs, but it wasn't enough today."

Just ahead of Van Aert, actually only eight seconds behind, Philipsen led the pack to the finish line, but said later that he did not initially see the Belgian celebrating his stage win. The 24-year-old, now a four-time Tour runner-up, admitted that he thought he had won the stage.

"Yeah, I thought I won, but all of a sudden I saw Wout there," he said. 'I didn't know he was leading. I never saw him go on the climb and I never heard on the radio that he was leading."

"Yeah, I'm very disappointed, for four or five seconds I really thought I had the Tour win. It would have made for some great pictures, but for me it's a crap shoot. I have to live with the shame for a while."