Roglic shows strength to win stage four at Tour de France

PARIS - UCI current world No 1 road cyclist Primoz Roglic proved himself remaining the title favorite of this year's Tour de France as the Slovenian powered to an impressive win on a summit finish in stage four on Tuesday.

The Spanish Vuelta champion finished the 160.5km ride in four hours seven minutes and 47 seconds. His Slovenian compatriot Tadej Pogacar from UAE Team Emirates ranked the second while French local rider Guillaume Martin in the third.

Roglic's victory of the day was the result of a perfect display of teamwork as his Jumbo-Visma teammates Wout van Aert and Sepp Kuss dictated the pace on the final seven-kilometer climb, holding off attacks from other contenders like defending champion Egan Bernal, yellow jersey holder Julian Alaphilippe, which enabled Roglic to launch the sprint in the final 500 meters.

"It was quite a fast day, quite hard," Roglic said.

"My team did a really good job again. I was always in a good position and in the end, I could do a good sprint and I'm really happy."

Alaphileppe finished fifth to retain the yellow jersey with a four-second lead on the overall standings. Roglic surged to the third place in the title race with seven seconds behind the Frenchman, and three to second-placed Adam Yates of Britain.

The fifth stage on Wednesday, which covers 183 kilometers, will start in Gap and end in Privas.