Season 4 Tour de France

The Season 4 Tour de France is the fourth edition of the Tour de France in the VeloTour, and the first with the VeloTour Universe riders. It is the final race of the season, and offers the most points of any race in Season 4.

## Pre-Race

There were many storylines heading into the Tour de France, as most teams were battling for positions in the finale of Season 4. Back-to-back classic victories by Luis Sancho brought Alpha Tauri within 250 points of leaders Kyoto. Although Kyoto were heavily favored to secure victory in Season 4, Alpha Tauri's recent comeback gave some managers hope that Kyoto could be dethroned. If Kyoto were to hold off Alpha Tauri in the Tour de France, Funky Q Chicken would become the first manager to win the VeloTour twice.

Third-place Vallnord, who had spent nearly the entire season in the top 3, were now under threat by the charging Euskaltel-Euskadi. The two teams were separated by just 100 points entering the Tour de France. Mid-table teams like Hackett, Sismic, Nautalia, and Doimo were also looking to secure a top-half finish in Season 4.

The principal favorites for the general classification were Hippolyte Toutain of Kyoto and Jean-Marie Cailloux of Euskaltel-Euskadi. Cailloux won both the Giro d'Italia and Critérium Du Dauphiné in dramatic fashion, highlighted by his ability to dominate mountain stages late in both races. However, the long team time trial on Stage 4 and the flat individual time trials on Stages 12 and 20 were expected to favor Toutain. Cailloux had better climbers for support in the mountains, while Toutain had better support in the team time trial and hilly stages. Other general classification contenders included Manuel Navarro (Hackett), Cheng Lingxin (Vallnord), and Cailloux's superdomestique Rico Rüdiger (Euskaltel-Euskadi).

With few flat stages on the route, the favorites for the points classification were sprinters who could score on the hillier stages. Fancied riders for the green jersey included Miroslav Kostra (Sismic), Davide Lagana (Castelli), Supachok Chirathivat (Vallnord), Mario Mazziotta (Hackett), and Ibai Laida (Kyoto).

The mountains classification was expected to have many challengers since the route's time trialing would eliminate top climbers from GC contention. Carlos Nelo (Sismic), Ilyana Pavlova (Doimo), Luis Sancho (Alpha Tauri), Rodolfo Lucci (Nautalia), Ugo Zorzi (Castelli), and Denis Nsengimana (Castelli) were riders who could target the polka dot jersey.

Kyoto were overwhelming favorites to win the team classification, followed by Euskaltel-Euskadi and Alpha Tauri.

## Route and Stages

The course was designed by Charles, who strove to create a harder route than Season 3. There were fewer flat stages, more time trial kilometers, more mountain stages, and more mountaintop finishes. When asked about his inspiration for the route, Charles replied "It's the type of course I would like to see in real life. The Tour organizers like to make routes that result in a close race. You should only get a close race if riders are on the same level, so I made the race hard." He mentioned Stage 10 from Barcelonnette to Levens and Stage 16 from Carcassonne to Arcalis-Andorra as the two *queen* stages of the Tour. Unlike the Season 3 Tour de France, there were no cobblestones on the Season 4 route.

## Results

### Points Classification

 2
 3
 4
 5

### Mountains Classification

 2
 3
 4
 5

### Team Classification

 2
 3
 4
 5

## Aftermath

Kyoto secured the team title for Season 4 by earning consistent results throughout the Tour de France and finishing second on GC with Hippolyte Toutain. This gave Funky Q Chicken their second VeloTour title, becoming the first manager to achieve that feat.

Euskaltel-Euskadi once again dominated a Grand Tour by winning the general classification, mountains classification, team classification, and two stages. They ascended to a shocking 2nd place in the final team standings and finished 1078 points behind Kyoto. The team climbed from 9th to 2nd through their Grand Tour results.

Rico Rüdiger finished in 3rd place overall despite working for team leader Jean-Marie Cailloux, and many believed that Rüdiger could have won the Tour de France himself if he and Cailloux swapped roles. Meanwhile, Cailloux became the first rider to win two Grand Tours (and three stage races total) in a single VeloTour season. With Season 5 confirmed to have just one Grand Tour, this record is likely to stand. Jean-Marie Cailloux also finished Season 4 as the highest-scoring individual rider.

Nautalia won a record 7 of the 21 Tour de France stages, including 6 of the first 10 stages. Their dynamic performance saw them ascend to 6th place in the final team standings after spending most of the season in 9th or 10th position. Time trial specialist Emil Meijer won all three individual time trials during the Tour.

Alpha Tauri had hope of upsetting Kyoto after matching the front-running team throughout Season 4. However, the team crumbled in the Tour de France, failing to win a single stage and only earning minor placings in the general classification.

## Trivia

* Considered the hardest Tour de France route in the VeloTour so far.
* The *Grand Départ* in Guingamp is the town of Charles's favorite French soccer club, *En Avant Guingamp*.
* The towns of Barcelonnette and Bagnères-de-Luchon hosted stages in Season 3 as well.
* The mountaintop finish at Risoul was also climbed in the Season 4 Critérium Du Dauphiné.
* The 7 stage wins by Nautalia are the most by a single team in any VeloTour Tour de France.
* Emil Meijer became the first rider to win three individual time trials in a single VeloTour event.
* Jean-Marie Cailloux became the first rider to win two Grand Tours in one season.
* Euskaltel-Euskadi are the first team to place two riders in the top 3 of a Grand Tour.
* Funky Q Chicken became the first two-time VeloTour winner.