\n<\/p>\n
It took until the halfway stage for an initial eight-man breakaway to form, finally moving clear of the rest of the riders during the tricky 3.8km-long Suc au May climb.<\/p>\n
The group never led by more than a minute and a half but just four were left as the race neared its conclusion, with Frenchman Alex Baudin joining Johannessen and Pidcock.<\/p>\n
This is the second stage of this year’s Tour to have been affected by weather, with fans told not to attend the final 40km of stage three near the Spanish-French border because of wildfires in the area.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, more than a third of the country was placed under France’s national weather service’s highest level of alert.<\/p>\n
The heat led the CPA, the association which represents professional cyclists, to say that race start times must “evolve” to “protect athletes’ health” given the increasing frequency of extreme heatwaves.<\/p>\n
Some riders have urged the Tour de France organisers to consider bringing forward start times to allow the hottest times of the day to be avoided.<\/p>\n
Before the stage began, 35-year-old Australian Luke Durbridge, who is riding for the 12th time this year, said it was “pretty insanely hot”.<\/p>\n
“It does make a difference, we appreciate the change,” Durbridge told AFP.<\/p>\n
“Going forward, if the way global warming is going, we probably need to start changing these start times.”<\/p>\n
But Tour leader Pogacar had a more drastic solution, saying changing the start times would not help riders avoid the extreme heat.<\/p>\n
“It’s a big topic to discuss, but if I could have the power to change it all, I would change all the calendars, and I would not race in July and August in the hot places, and do a completely different calendar,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n