The 24-year-old from Albertville in the French Alps was blown away by the crowds that came out to watch the Grand Départ in Lille. Today’s fourth stage in Normandy was his first great test and Alex didn’t let his excitement get the better of him. He rode with the composure and finished just behind the GC favorites after an explosive finale into Rouen.

With five sharp, steep climbs packed into the final 50 kilometers of the race, Kasper Asgreen broke away early in the stage and bridged up to the race’s first movers to form an escape of four. Kasper was hoping he could break the peloton like he did when he won his stage at the Giro. The GC favorites were determined to duke it out to the line. Kasper held out bravely in front but got caught when the peloton accelerated.

They raced the final climbs flat out. As riders got spat out the back, our guys massed at the front, keeping Neilson and Alex in position. Harry Sweeny did a huge turn for them going into the final climb.

When the race exploded on the Rampe Saint-Hilaire, Alex was just a bit too far back, but he fought hard all the way to the line and ended the stage 13th.

You’re going to see a lot more of Alex Baudin at this Tour de France.

Before we race the Tour’s first TT around the streets of Caen, read our riders’ thoughts from stage 4 of the 2025 Tour de France.

It was explosive. It was kind of an easy day at the start, not too stressful. We are really in grand tour mode now. The teams are setting up in the bunch and taking it easy, I would say, and then with 70 kilometers to go, it got stressful. On every climb, we went a little bit faster and faster.

The guys did super work, even though I couldn't hold the wheel. The guys were at the front all day, so chapeau to them. In the finale, it was full gas, up and down. It was quite fun, but really, really hard.

I am a bit frustrated. I was missing just a little bit on the last climb to be with the top guys. I was not too far from catching the front. It is nice to see that the shape is there.

Kasper had a pretty insane ride today to be up with those few riders making it that far. It took him a while to catch them, but he got there. We tried to rally the troops from behind, because we knew it was going to be really stressful and difficult.

Coming into this finale, it was a more Ardennes style finish, like Amstel Gold almost, with small roads and sharp, steep climbs. We were one of the teams that was best positioned for the whole last hundred kilometers of the race. It was really nice to be in front of all the chaos from behind.

At the end, it was a race for the GC favorites today. We were trying to position ourselves to look for an opportunity to move between the climbs, because we knew that beating Van der Poel, Jonas, or Tadej head-to-head on this course was going to be difficult.

But, it was just too fast and ended up being a GC race again. I think as a team we were super strong and have a lot of positives to take away, but, we are still chasing that result.

I went too late, but that was as soon as I could get clear. The break didn’t really work out, which was unfortunate, but we gave it a shot. It was also a hard day in a bunch with cross winds the whole day, so I don’t think I lost too much energy compared to the guys in the bunch.

When I was up there, I was just trying to use my energy as best as possible, keep the group turning through, and be as efficient as we could.