If it was meant to be the calm before the storm of what promises to be a thrilling stage five, the Tour de France peloton certainly had not read the stage four script.

Crashes galore, greasy road surfaces and Marcel Kittel having to dig very deep for his third stage win in four days all combined to make for an enthralling spectacle.

With the WorldTour’s elite welcomed to France for the first time in this year’s race, stage four proved nothing can be taken for granted at the Tour.

See our round-up of the best rider reaction to the stage, as Chris Froome, Bauke Mollema and Niki Terpstra took to Twitter to reflect on their crashes, John Degenkolb enjoyed a double German celebration and Allesandro de Marchi sought divine intervention ahead of the cobbled hell awaiting.