After the climbers and puncheurs had their chances on the opening three days, the sprinters would get their opportunity on stage four on Thursday. Despite a climb in the beginning of the day it was a steady start and a two rider group managed to establish itself out front, with all Team dsm-firmenich PostNL riders in the peloton. As the kilometres ticked by, the break’s advantage was reduced and they were eventually caught with 25 kilometres to go. The peloton took things steadily which then saw things dramatically increase in tempo towards the finale and there were a few crashes at the back of the bunch. Coming into the final kilometre it was a big battle between the sprint trains, and the sprint group tried to move forward but in the swirling mass they couldn’t find a gap. With around 300 metres to go Bram Welten brought Casper van Uden forward, who then started his sprint from distance but he struggled to find the space to have a clean run to the line, eventually crossing the line in 11th place.
Speaking after the stage Van Uden said: “The boys did a good job throughout the day to keep me safe and we never had any issues. When the break was caught it was calm for a while but then it was really fast and hectic. We did a good job initially but then got stuck in the washing machine in the last two kilometres and from there I could never really get out to sprint.”