Romain Grégoire beats Julian Alaphilippe to take Tour of Britain lead - Remco Evenepoel on the attack

Stage 4 of the Tour of Britain was a day for the puncheurs, and it was a battle between two Frenchmen in the race's first hilly day. Remco Evenepoel attacked two times on a day that proved harder than expected, but in the end it was Romain Grégoire who sprinted to victory, an explosive triumph over Julian Alaphilippe in Buron Dasset.

The fourth day of racing is the first that could dictate some differences in the overall classification, and it would be more attacked than expected. In the breakaway of the day were Rory Townsend, Cedric Beullens, Victor Vercouillie and Joshua Golliker. The quartet would be caught however after the action began in the peloton.

There was a final circuit with three ascents (plus one more before entering the circuit), all of them less than 1 kilometer long but quite steep. An uphill sprint was the expected scenario, but Remco Evenepoel's desire was to explode the race from far, which he did with 25 kilometers to go, initially followed by Pavel Sivakov, Bauke Mollema and Andrew August. However the group wouldn't collaborate perfectly and the fast-chasing peloton concluded the catch with 16 kilometers to go. However the attacks wouldn't stop afterwards, with Evenepoel trying once again, and the likes of Andreas Leknessund, Sam Watson, and Fred Wright all looking to get away from the peloton before the final climb. However it would come back together and the decision would be made in the final 700 meters.

Sam Watson led the way up the narrow road and launched his sprint first but early. Romain Grégoire and Julian Alaphilippe came through both sides of the Britain to start their sprint but it was the Groupama - FDJ rider who took the victory on the day, also taking the race lead in the process. Edoardo Zambanini sprinted to third on the day.