Norwegian rider Torstein Traeen seized the prestigious yellow jersey on Tuesday as Danish cyclist Mads Pedersen won the fourth stage of the Tour de France.
The victory comes just two days after Norway’s surprise upset of Brazil in the World Cup, where Erling Haaland scored twice.
Pedersen, the 2019 world champion, powered to a sprint victory ahead of his Lidl‑Trek teammate Quinn Simmons, who finished second, while Spaniard Raul Garcia claimed third in a stage that covered 182 km from Carcassonne to Foix under temperatures exceeding 40 °C.
This triumph marks Pedersen’s third career stage win at the Tour, adding the green points jersey to his palmarès.
Traeen began the day trailing the defending champion Tadej Pogacar by just over five minutes, and he was part of an early breakaway of 34 riders that formed roughly 25 km into the course.
The group gradually diminished, shrinking to ten riders on the final climb, with Traeen ultimately finishing eighth.
After the main peloton crossed the line 13 minutes behind the stage winner, Traeen now leads the overall standings by 28 seconds from American rider Sean Quinn, who placed ninth in the stage.
Lidl‑Trek teammate Mathias Vacek finished tenth in the stage and now sits third overall, trailing by 3 minutes and 50 seconds, and takes the lead in the young‑rider classification.
Pogacar dropped to fourth overall at 7 minutes and 53 seconds, sharing that deficit with his main rival Jonas Vingegaard in fifth.
For Traeen, 30, this is the second time he has held the leader’s position in a Grand Tour, having previously worn the red jersey during the Vuelta a España last year for four days.
He becomes the third Norwegian to wear the Tour de France yellow jersey, following in the footsteps of Thor Hushovd, who now manages the Uno‑X Mobility squad and wore the jersey in 2004, 2006 and 2011, and Alexander Kristoff, who held it for a single day in 2020.
