After three days in neighbouring Albania the Giro d’Italia has crossed the Adriatic Sea for the first stage on home soil, a frantic day for the fast men won by the surprise package of Casper van Uden.
The peloton had the first of three rest days on Monday and resumed with a flat 189km run from Alberobello to Lecce, with a chaotic and nervy finale on a technical city centre circuit. Ultimately it was the relegation-threatened squad of Picnic PostNL who came out on top, timing their leadout to perfection, and they were rewarded with a first-ever Grand Tour stage win for Van Uden on his Giro d’Italia - and three-week - debut.
Lidl-Trek’s Mads Pedersen kept hold of the leader’s pink jersey, finishing fourth on the stage, while the day’s favourite Olav Kooij was forced to settle for second with Tudor Pro Cycling’s Maikel Zijlaard third.
Follow all the action with The Independent’s live blog:
Giro d'Italia 2025 - Stage 4
- Mads Pedersen eyes more glory and hat-trick of sprint victories
- Pedersen leads the general classification on first day for pure sprinters
- Casper van Uden takes surprise victory at close of dramatic, tense sprint finish
- Pink jersey caught out in crash as nervy finale approaches (22km to go)
- Lone breakaway rider caught as sprinters' teams gear up for fast finish (55km to go)
- Tom Pidcock involved in dramatic crash with teammate forced to abandon race (120km to go)
- Jensen Plowright wins first intermediate sprint with key fast men missing from action (147km to go)
Casper van Uden wins hectic sprint finish on Giro d’Italia stage four as Mads Pedersen retains lead
18:10 , Flo CliffordDutch sprinter Casper van Uden claimed his first Grand Tour victory on his debut at a three-week race as he won stage four of the Giro d’Italia.
The first chance for the pure sprinters after a time trial and two punchy days in neighbouring Albania, this was always going to be a fast finale and it was the 23-year-old who came out on top in a chaotic finish in Lecce.
His Picnic PostNL squad came from nowhere inside the final kilometre as the peloton jostled for position, with van Uden launching a long-range sprint from 500m out and holding off the day’s favourite, Olav Kooij, and Maikel Zijlaard for the win.
Blow to Lidl-Trek
17:35 , Flo CliffordSoren Kragh Andersen, Mads Pedersen’s designated final lead-out man for the sprint, went down in that crash with 22km to go. He eventually crossed the line more than 10 minutes down and didn’t look in a good way. We’ll have to see if he’s able to start tomorrow’s stage.
General classification after stage four
17:12 , Flo Clifford1) Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), in 11:44:31
2) Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +7”
3) Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) +14”
4) Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +21”
5) Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +22”
6) Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +25”
7) Max Poole (Team Picnic PostNL)+33”
8) Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) +34”
9) Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) +36”
10) Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +40”
Stage four results
17:06 , Flo Clifford1) Casper van Uden (Picnic PostNL), in 4:02:21
2) Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike)
3) Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor Pro Cycling)
4) Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
5) Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
6) Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale)
7) Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep)
8) Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers)
9) Matteo Moschetti (Q36.5)
10) Enrico Zanoncello (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane), all at same time
Pedersen in pink
17:00 , Flo CliffordMads Pedersen keeps the maglia rosa, although Primoz Roglic took back two seconds in the Red Bull kilometre to cut his lead to seven.
Today's winner
16:55 , Flo CliffordAll smiles for Casper van Uden, who took just his fifth pro win today and his first at a Grand Tour, on his Grand Tour debut. Good day at the office that.
'Damage control' for Mads Pedersen
16:52 , Flo CliffordMads Pedersen keeps pink but seems a little downbeat - although fourth on the day, behind some pure sprinters, is hardly a bad result.
“It was a hectic final, especially when the rest of the day was quite easy, but the final was really something special,” he says. “Wide roads and narrow roads and so on. So a stressful day in the end, but all in all it was okay, we made it. And damage control on the points [classification, which he still leads], so that's good.”
Max Kanter relegated
16:40 , Flo CliffordMax Kanter of XDS-Astana has been relegated from fifth to 103rd, at the back of the winning group. Not sure what for but presumably some sort of deviation - or possibly some argy-bargy with Pedersen inside the final kilometre.
'Really happy' to give the team something back - Van Uden
16:33 , Flo Clifford23-year-old Casper van Uden, who looks equal parts overwhelmed and thrilled, shares his thoughts on TNT Sports. “I didn’t do it alone, we did it with the whole team, all the boys, all the staff back at HQ. They did super good. I didn’t have to take any wind until a bit more than 200[m] to go, and I know I have a good long sprint. I just went for it and hoped for the best.
“We just know we did a really good job the whole season with the leadouts. I know I just need to follow the boys. I’m really really happy to give them something back.
“I don’t think it’s a surprise [win], I know the boys and everyone really believe in me, sometimes I have to find that belief in myself a little bit. This helps.”
Casper van Uden wins stage four
16:21 , Flo Clifford
Stage four results
16:18 , Flo CliffordCasper van Uden wins for Picnic PostNL with Olav Kooij, probably the favourite for today, second. Tudor’s Maikel Zijlaard was third, Mads Pedersen fourth, and XDS-Astana’s Max Kanter fifth in another surprise result.
Kaden Groves, Sam Bennett, Paul Magnier, Ben Turner, and Matteo Moschetti round out the top 10.
Casper van Uden wins stage four
16:16 , Flo CliffordIncredible scenes as Casper van Uden celebrates with his teammates. That was a masterful leadout by Picnic PostNL, they were perfectly positioned, and their sprinter just had so much in the tank.
Casper van Uden has just taken his first win of the season, his first ever Grand Tour stage win, in his first ever Grand Tour. What a day for the Dutchman.
Casper van Uden wins stage four!
16:14 , Flo CliffordA huge win for Picnic PostNL and they’re out of the WorldTour relegation zone!
Casper van Uden led from some couple of hundred metres out and held on to win it!
Into the sprint
16:13 , Flo CliffordAlpecin-Deceuninck are caught out of position and Mads Pedersen is jostling with an XDS Astana rider. Picnic PostNL are on the front
Flamme rouge (1km to go)
16:13 , Flo CliffordOnto the right-hander and there’s a big gap... 1km to go and Visma are on the front with Pedersen right behind them!
Sprinters out of position (2km to go)
16:12 , Flo CliffordOne long line now into the final 2km and Kooij’s unmistakeable yellow jersey is way down the bunch. Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale and Alpecin-Deceuninck are on the front in Lecce; Pedersen is back, around 30th wheel or even further down. Egan Bernal and Ineos are well positioned at the front.
Is this Kaden Groves’ day?
Tudor, Ineos on the front (5km to go)
16:09 , Flo CliffordIt’s incredibly changeable now as Kooij and Pedersen, at the front until a corner/roundabout combo, slip down the bunch. Tudor and Ineos stay stuck to the front.
Into the last 5km and the GC men can breathe a sigh of relief.
Peloton splitting, Roglic moves up (7km to go)
16:06 , Flo CliffordAfter every roundabout and corner the gaps open up again. Josh Tarling puts Ineos Grenadiers into the best position on a major squeeze point as the the road narrows, protecting Egan Bernal; Primoz Roglic is moving up too as the GC men wait for the 5km mark to indicate they’re safe. It’s a very technical circuit and a bit of a headache for many of the riders.
First passage of the finish line (12km to go)
16:01 , Flo CliffordIt’s quite a tricky approach to the finish, with a sharp right-hander onto some pretty narrow roads and another couple of corners, before a left-hander just before the flamme rouge. From there it’s straightforward, but those corners could be a nightmare in the final.
It looks like Pedersen and Ciccone are back at the front now.
Giulio Ciccone dropped (16km to go)
15:57 , Flo CliffordNot a good few kilometres for Lidl-Trek as their main climber and GC hopeful Giulio Ciccone is frantically chasing back onto the bunch, guided by a teammate, to avoid losing time. Mads Pedersen is moving up too but is sans his final lead-out man, Soren Kragh Andersen.
Pinch point as riders caught out (19km to go)
15:55 , Flo CliffordThere’s a nasty bottleneck as the road suddenly narrows dramatically and a huge number of riders slow almost to a halt before having to chase back on.
Helicopter shots show the front of the peloton riding ten or twelve abreast but behind them it’s all strung out as the riders fight to regain their places. It’s the GC teams on the front still and a Lidl-Trek rider is dropping back to shepherd Mads Pedersen back on.
The usual 3km rule has been extended to 5km for this stage, with any riders caught in an incident inside the final 5km receiving the same time as the bunch they were in at the time.
Pedersen caught out in crash! (22km to go)
15:50 , Flo CliffordThe pink jersey is caught out at the back as the riders approach a roundabout, with half of them going the wrong way, and it looks like a Lidl-Trek rider is down.
Soren Kragh Andersen needs a bike change, and he’s meant to be Pedersen’s last lead-out man, so that’s suboptimal. He doesn’t look to be in the best shape from that and the medical staff are there to check him over.
There’s a Polti VisitMalta rider down too.
Onto the circuit (24km to go)
15:48 , Flo CliffordBahrain Victorious lead the peloton onto the finishing circuit, which they’ll do two laps of, with plenty of pinch points and roundabouts to cause problems and the speed ramping up more and more. Drama incoming. Fingers crossed it’s all of the racing kind and not of the crashing and incident kind.
Nervy finale awaits (35km to go)
15:33 , Flo CliffordEven with so long still left to ride the pace has upped considerably and the big teams are fighting to be at the front. Mikel Landa’s crash on stage one, inside the final 5km, is likely to be in some riders’ minds as they look after their key riders.
Any sprint stage is bound to have some dicey moments and today might see more than normal with a constant fight for positioning in the city centre finishing circuit.
Points up for grabs (43km to go)
15:26 , Flo CliffordWe could be seeing some major movement in the points classification today, currently helmed by Mads Pedersen. There are 50 points available for the winner, compared to 25 on offer in the first two road stages, both won by the Dane.
He sits on 65 points, 30 points ahead of second-placed (and maglia ciclamino-wearing) Alessandro Tonelli, but Olav Kooij now has 17 points and could leapfrog him with a win today.
Olav Kooij wins intermediate sprint (53km to go)
15:15 , Flo CliffordThe sprinters open up a huge gap as they power away to the line, and it’s a shootout between the fully pink Mads Pedersen and Visma-Lease a Bike’s Olav Kooij. Pedersen has plenty of speed, coming off Kooij’s wheel, but the Dutch youngster has the power to maintain it over the line.
A test run for this afternoon’s proper sprint?
Kaden Groves crosses third.
Munoz caught! (55km to go)
15:09 , Flo CliffordA valiant effort by Francisco Munoz but after nearly 140km out on his own, he’s caught by the bunch.
The day’s final intermediate sprint is in 2km, at San Pancrazio Salentino, and the peloton are now jostling for position to get their sprinters ready for maximum points.
We’ve still got a little under an hour of racing and it’s already nervy.
Peloton chasing (60km to go)
15:03 , Flo CliffordSome idiot has let off a load of flares as the riders pass through a town, which fortunately looks to drift over the top of the peloton.
A visibly tired Munoz knows the game is up. His advantage is down to 35 seconds and there’s still 60km left to race. Bahrain, Groupama-FDJ, Lidl-Trek and Visma-Lease a Bike have all massed at the front to protect their big names.
Munoz's gap decreasing (68km to go)
14:51 , Flo CliffordIt’s been a long day in the saddle for Munoz, who has now been out front on his own for 120km, but his advantage is slowly ebbing away now. It’s down to 1:49 with a little under 70km to ride.
On TNT Sports, Mads Pedersen - who I did predict to win today - has played down his chances, with it being a completely flat sprint rather than a tough uphill day.
Gap stabilising (80km to go)
14:35 , Flo CliffordAll that attacking from the GC men, and a brief punt by Bahrain Victorious that went nowhere, saw Munoz’s gap cut to 2:20. It’s stabilised around that point now.
Lidl-Trek have told TNT Sports that it was a dropped bottle that caused the earlier crash - Zukowsky must be bitterly disappointed, but often those innocuous crashes can have the biggest impact.
Mads Pedersen, who is wearing an eye-watering amount of pink today, tells reporters he’s wearing a time trial suit because the road suit wasn’t ready yet. Will it give him the aero advantage in the sprint? We’ll find out.
Advantage Roglic at the Red Bull kilometre (101km to go)
14:09 , Flo CliffordAntonio Tiberi fancies some seconds too and shoots off the front as the road tilts uphill. Munoz took the maximum six bonus seconds but there are still four and two available at the line.
Roglic nabs two but Isaac del Toro rides interference to take four and prevent the Slovenian gaining too much more on his team leader Juan Ayuso.
So Roglic now moves to seven seconds down on Pedersen overall, from nine at the start of the day.
Red Bull kilometre (104km to go)
14:07 , Flo CliffordInto the Red Bull sprint at Ostuni, where more points and seconds are available. Munoz, predictably, wins the Red Bull kilometre, and still has a 3:30 gap over the bunch.
But behind them the GC men are getting ready to scrap for bonuses! Primoz Roglic, second overall, heads to the front, and Juan Ayuso is primed and ready too.
Pidcock involved in crash
13:47 , Flo CliffordTom Pidcock, Luke Plapp and Italian sprinter Matteo Moschetti were all involved in that crash too, but all look okay.
Lidl-Trek sports director Kim Andersen has just pointed out Moschetti as a major contender for today’s sprint, chatting to TNT Sports, so he might be relieved to see the home favourite expending some energy to chase back onto the bunch after needing a bike change.
Zukowsky abandons (121km to go)
13:40 , Flo CliffordBad news for Nickolas Zukowsky, who abandons the race after that crash. That looked like a right collarbone injury to the Canadian; easily done, putting your hands down to brace for impact. Such a shame.
Crash in the bunch! (125km to go)
13:38 , Flo CliffordThere’s a crash in the peloton that takes down a large number of riders, toppling into one another in a domino effect, including several of the pink jersey Mads Pedersen’s Lidl-Trek team and Romain Bardet, the French veteran.
Pedersen himself doesn’t go down, just braking quickly to avoid it, and most of the fallers are quickly back up and on the move.
That looked to be a simple slip in concentration in the bunch, a touch of wheels at low speed, resulting in a house of cards toppling over.
Nickolas Zukowsky, Tom Pidcock’s Q36.5 teammate, is sat on the pavement clutching his collarbone and that really doesn’t look good. Everyone else seems okay.
First day in Italy
13:33 , Flo CliffordWhile the peloton continues to roll along, three and a half minutes down on our lone leader, here’s a look at their gorgeously scenic surroundings today:
Jensen Plowright wins intermediate sprint (147km to go)
13:08 , Flo CliffordThe sprinters are doing a dry run of the sprint proper at the end of today’s stage.
Lidl-Trek practice their leadout for the maglia rosa of Mads Pedersen but it’s Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Jensen Plowright who takes eight points, with Olav Kooij, Pedersen, and Corbin Strong hoovering up five, three, and one respectively.
Looked like Pedersen wasn’t going flat-out there, but you’d expect Kooij to get the better of Alpecin’s second-string sprinter. And where was Kaden Groves?
Intermediate sprint approaching (150km to go)
13:02 , Flo CliffordLittle bit more drama now as the intermediate sprint approaches, at Polignano a Mare.
Lidl-Trek are onto the front of the bunch now, aiming to protect Mads Pedersen’s healthy lead in the maglia ciclamino (points) classification.
Munoz will take the maximum 12 points as he’s still nearly four and a half minutes out front, and he soaks in the applause of a healthy crowd gathered along the roadside. This may not be the most thrilling stage but you wouldn’t know it from the enthusiasm of these locals.
KOM standings
12:57 , Flo Clifford1. Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana) – 29 points
2. Sylvain Moniquet (Cofidis) – 20 points
3. Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) – 12 points
4. Alessandro Tonelli (Polti VisitMalta) – 11 points
5. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) – 9 points
It’ll be another day in blue for Fortunato tomorrow, with no more climbs on the menu today.
Munoz takes KOM points (170km to go)
12:38 , Flo CliffordIt’s a very short climb, only 0.9km at 6.1%, and with Munoz’s advantage up to nearly five minutes now he takes the maximum points.
There’s a bit of glancing around behind as the peloton approach the top, and Sylvain Moniquet launches a move to nab the remaining points.
The Belgian is absolutely flying and takes two, eating into Lorenzo Fortunato’s KOM lead, with the Astana XDS rider taking the remaining point.
Approaching the climb (174km to go)
12:29 , Flo CliffordJust under a kilometre to go until the day’s only climb, a category four bump at Putignano.
Munoz is still alone out front and has an advantage of 3:20 over the bunch.
One rider up the road (186km to go)
12:15 , Flo CliffordOne lone attacker goes from the flag drop, Franciso Munoz of Polti VisitMalta, but no-one’s keen to go with him on a day when a breakaway feels pretty futile.
Lorenzo Fortunato, wearing the king of the mountains jersey, looks like he might be interested in nabbing the maximum three points on the day’s sole climb at Putignano... but he drops off too.
Flag drop
12:11 , Flo CliffordA little over 4km of neutralised start done and the racing proper begins on the first day on Italian soil.
'First stage' of Giro for Kaden Groves
12:10 , Flo Clifford“I'm really looking forward to it,” Kaden Groves tells TNT Sports at the start. “It feels like the first stage for us.
“I didn't have the legs in Albania, so missed both those reduced sprints, so I'm looking forward to getting things started today with a complete, normal bunch sprint.”
Rollout underway
12:02 , Flo CliffordThere’s a short neutralised rollout on a beautiful day in Alberobello and a little over 3km until the flag drop.
Route map and profile
12:00 , Flo Clifford
Today's contenders
11:55 , Flo CliffordMany of the sprinters were distanced on the climbs on stages one and three, but today’s route profile is almost entirely horizontal and it’s set to be a proper bunch sprint today.
Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) is one of the fastest men in the peloton and probably has the best dedicated leadout train, including Wout van Aert.
Soudal Quick-Step have a serious contender in French sprinter Paul Magnier, supported by Britain’s Ethan Hayter.
Aussie Kaden Groves, Irishman Sam Bennett, and Venezuelan cyclist Orluis Aular - the latter with two third places to his name already in this race - are also likely to be in the mix.
Last time out
11:50 , Flo CliffordMads Pedersen outsprinted Corbin Strong to win stage three of the Giro d'Italia on Sunday and double up on sprint victories after he claimed the opening stage of the race on Friday.
The Dane's second win of this year’s race also saw him take back the overall leader's jersey from Primoz Roglic courtesy of the 10 bonus seconds on offer for the winner, having started the day one second behind the Slovenian.
The Lidl-Trek rider took to the front in the sprint finish and held off New Zealander Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) by half a wheel, with Venezuela's Orluis Aular (Movistar) finishing third, as he did in stage one.
General classification after stage three
11:45 , Flo Clifford1) Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), in 7:42:10
2) Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +9”
3) Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) +14”
4) Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +21”
5) Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +25”
6) Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +26”
7) Max Poole (Team Picnic PostNL)+33”
8) Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) +34”
9) Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) +36”
10) Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +40”
Giro d'Italia standings
11:40 , Flo CliffordMads Pedersen ceded pink to Primoz Roglic after stage two’s time trial but was resplendent in the Giro d’Italia leader’s jersey once more after winning stage three to double up on sprint victories.
The Lidl-Trek rider became the first Dane to wear pink to victory on stage one in Albania and took the honours at the end of a 160km run to Vlore on Sunday.
His win took him ahead of Roglic in the general classification by nine seconds thanks to the ten seconds available on the line, having started the day one behind. The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider missed out on the stage win in Saturday’s 13.7km time trial - won by Ineos Grenadiers youngster Josh Tarling for his first Grand Tour stage victory - but did enough to take the overall lead.
Who is leading the Giro d’Italia? Maglia rosa and general classification standings
How to watch
11:35 , Flo CliffordCoverage is live now on TNT Sports and discovery+, with build-up to today’s action.
The stage is set to get underway at around 11.55am BST (12.55 CET) and should conclude by 4pm BST.
Stage four route
11:32 , Flo CliffordA sprinter’s paradise today: just the one categorised climb, a cat 4 at Putignano inside the first 20km, followed by another 170km of jostling for position and an inevitably nervy run-in to Lecce.
Into the closing stages: the peloton will tackle a 12km loop of Lecce with one passage of the finish line, with one final proper corner just before the flamme rouge, before heading onto a 300m, eight-metre-wide finishing straight.
The battle for positioning into that last corner will be the key moment to watch; anyone who slips down the bunch will be out of contention.
Giro d’Italia stage four preview: Sprinters set to do battle on 189km route to Lecce
Good morning
11:24 , Flo CliffordHello and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of stage four of the Giro d’Italia!
Following yesterday’s early rest day the action resumes today for the first stage on Italian soil, 189km from Alberobello to Lecce.
