"In a couple of days maybe I will wake up and understand how big it is" - Torstein Traeen can't believe he holds the yellow jersey
Cycling
When Torstein Traeen woke up on Tuesday morning, you'd bet that finishing the day as the Tour de France yellow jersey wasn't in the front of his mind. But after a golden breakaway performance, the Norwegian now leads La Grand Boucle.
After Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard's early general classification duels, the pair mutually agreed to turn down the heat on their yellow fight on stage 4 as a breakaway was allowed to get away and fight for the stage. But crucially, a few in the original 34 riders who got away were very fortunately placed in gneral classification.
Among them was Uno-X Mobility rider Torstein Traeen and Sean Quinn, 5:34 and 6:02 behind Pogacar at the beginning of the day. While Lidl-Trek and other teams fought to keep the peloton at bay and fight for stage honours, both Traeen and Quinn found themselves on an express train straight to the top of the GC.
With neither considered a direct threat to GC over three weeks, the two are strong riders and found themselves minutes ahead virtually thanks to a timid peloton and a rampaging Lidl-Trek march to Mads Pedersen's stage win.
By the time Traeen, Quinn, the eight other remaining riders and then the peloton crossed the line, Traeen was officially in yellow and Quinn in second - now 7:53 ahead of a fourth-placed Pogacar and then the rest of the contenders.
Traeen in disbelief after taking yellow
“It feels unreal, and I don't really understand what is going on. So yeah, I think in a couple of days maybe I will wake up and understand how big it is,” Traeen said after the stage.
Still in disbelief, Traeen broke down how his stage went from a breakaway bid to a yellow triumph: "Yeah, of course. I was thinking maybe yesterday could be the day and then turned out that Tadej and UAE wanted the stage win.
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"So, then yeah, it was a different story, and then when I went into the breakaway today, I was not believing until we came to this last climb, and I understand, okay, the legs are pretty good, and the gap is pretty big. So, then yeah, then you just hope and uh believe, no?”
When it does set in, Traeen just wants to take it day by day and try to hold onto the jersey, concluding: “Yeah, of course, the Tour is the Tour. So, I will enjoy it every day I can enjoy it. So, yeah, I just hope that I can wear it as long as possible.”
Gavin QuinnCycling Journalist
Gavin Quinn is a cycling journalist and ultra-distance cyclist with a BA in Journalism from Dublin City University. Formerly the Press & Communications Officer for Cycling Ireland, Gavin has worked inside the national team at the World Championships and has reported for the Irish Mirror, Mirror UK, and The42.
His expertise is backed by elite-level access, having interviewed stars like Sam Bennett and Ben Healy, as well as immense personal endurance. In 2025, he completed a 12,000km solo cycle from Ireland to Vietnam, following a 4,600km tour across Europe. From the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix to the gradients of the Tourmalet, Gavin’s writing focuses on the "romance and brutality" of the sport. Having visited 50+ countries, he brings a global, cultural perspective to his coverage of the pro peloton for CyclingUpToDate.
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