Tour de France Stage 4 Results: Cadel Evans Wins, Thor Hushovd Stays In Yellow

Although it’s officially categorized as a flat stage, Stage 4 of the 2011 Tour de France was not likely to be quite the sprinter’s paradise expected of these early stages.

Today’s stage took the riders on a 172-km jaunt from Lorient to Mur-de-Bretagne through the beautiful country side of Brittany. The stage has two climbs, the first a Category 4 climb over the Cote de Laz, and the second is the Category 3 climb into the finish.

The final climb looked to be tailor-made for Philippe Gilbert to repeat his effort from the opening stage and claim his second victory of the Tour.

The stage started in cold, wet conditions, a sharp contrast from the balmy conditions of the first three days.

As is customary, the breakaway formed almost immediately, again comprised of five rides and including Jeremy Roy, who was a part of the breakaway on stage one. The gap to the peloton yo-yoed, but stayed within striking distance and settled between two and three minutes.

The break was composed of: Roy (FDJ), Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Euskatel), Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) and Blel Kadri (AG2R).

The first hint of excitement for the day came with the single King of the Mountains point now on offer for Category 4 climbs, an interesting innovation and one which stops riders who aren’t really climbers and helps them accumulate cheap points on relatively flat stages.

Hoogerland broke free of the breakaway to claim the point on offer.

Not long after the  climb came the intermediate sprint where Hoogerland completed the quinella by claiming the 20 points on offer, with Roy (17 points), Kadri (15 points), Izagirre (13 points) and Erviti (11 points).

As the peleton approached the sprint around 2 minutes and 30 seconds later, HTC seemed to move Mark Cavendish into perfect position to help him claim the maximum remaining points. But they never seemed to get the acceleration right and were swamped by Tyler Farrar (10 points) and green jersey-holder José Joaquín Rojas (9 points).

Cavendish crossed in ninth place, securing himself seven points, but things aren’t going well for the Manx Missile.

As the peloton headed for home, it fractured into two. Crucially, Cadel Evans was caught in the second bunch and had to expend some serious energy getting back into the main pack—only to find himself with bike problems, ultimately requiring him to change bikes.

Evans seems to be one of those rider for whom problems seem to multiply when he’s having a rough day.

Also having a bad day was Omega-Pharma Lotto’s Jurgen Van de Walle, who became the first rider to abandon this tour due to after effects of a nasty crash on Stage 1, and Romain Feillu of Vacansoleil, whose gears packed up on him, leading him to throw his bike in a ditch and scream for the team car to give him a new one.

Feillu may have also attracted some attention from the race referees after using his own team car to pace him back into the pack to recover. Very naughty indeed.

Inside the last 8km, two of the breakaway riders—Hoogerland and Izagirre—decided to have a go at retaining their lead all the way through to the end and broke away from the breakaway, although it didn’t last.

The breakaway was finally reeled in just inside 4km to go.

Alberto Contador tried to gain some time back on the leaders with a cheeky attempt at a break, but he couldn’t keep it going. He finished with a bunch of ten riders and was finally eclipsed by Evans by about one second.

While Evans won his first Tour stage—despite wearing the yellow jersey many times, a stage victory has eluded him—the ride of the day must go to Thor Hushovd, who retained his yellow jersey by finishing with Evans and company.

Evans won’t be upset about not gaining the Tour lead. The yellow jersey sits heavy on his shoulders, and he’s a different rider without it.

Another great day’s racing. Tomorrow is back to the true sprinters but, for today, Aussies will be rejoicing.

Standings after Stage 4

1. HUSHOVD Thor                 TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO     13h 58' 25"  
2. EVANS Cadel                    BMC RACING TEAM                   + 00' 01"
3. SCHLECK Frank                TEAM LEOPARD-TREK              + 00' 04"
4. MILLAR David                    TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO        + 00' 08"
5. KLÖDEN Andréas              TEAM RADIOSHACK                  + 00' 10"
6. WIGGINS Bradley              SKY PROCYCLING                     + 00' 10"
7. THOMAS Geraint                SKY PROCYCLING                    + 00' 12"
8. HAGEN Edvald Boasson     SKY PROCYCLING                    + 00' 12"
9. SCHLECK Andy                TEAM LEOPARD-TREK               + 00' 12"
10. FUGLSANG Jakob           TEAM LEOPARD-TREK               + 00' 12"