Tour de France 2019: Stage Four preview, TV details and free tip

TV: ITV4 & Eurosport 1, 11.25am

Julian Alaphilippe scored a typically dashing lone victory on stage three to claim the yellow jersey as the 2019 Tour entered France for the first time on Monday.

Last year's King of the Mountains, advised at 11-2 in Racing Post Sport, powered clear on the last hill of a lumpy finish, with just over 15 kilometres to go and finished 26 seconds clear. With time bonuses, Alaphilippe leads overall by 20 seconds from Wout van Aert.

In the bigger overall picture, Egan Bernal and Thibaut Pinot pinched five seconds over the other yellow-jersey contenders including Bernal's Team Ineos teammate Geraint Thomas.

Stage four goes from Reims to Nancy, which last hosted a finish five years ago when the race was split by a category-four hill 5km from the end and Matteo Trentin beat Peter Sagan in a reduced bunch sprint.

This time the climb comes a bit further out, with 15km to go, and the expectation is that there will be a more normal sprint up the long straight.

Dylan Groenewegen is the top sprinter all things being equal but Sagan should be involved again and looks the solid bet.

He should float over the last climb and, having had a below-par spring, has found his form with top-three finishes in the last eight sprints he has contested for the win.

Bernal is 2-1 favourite for the overall victory with Thomas 3-1. Alaphilippe is 50-1 from 150-1.

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