Tour de France Stage 4: Lorient - Mur de Bretagne - 172.5 km

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Mende last year, Bretagne today.

We need more of these short steep climbs! (even if Andy's no good at them )

These type finishes are what make TA an awesome stage race.

Suits cadel a lot.

 

[will10]

But coming a day after a TTT in which AC did a s**tload of work, not too surprising that he didn't have his normal explosiveness. Anyway, I think it was more a shot across the bow than anything - if he'd really wanted to gain time, he'd have attacked straight away at the bottom of the climb.

But yeah, Evans looks good so far - hope he can hold it together for this Tour.

I think you've lost a day my friend. Today is Tuesday if you're having trouble.

 

[hrotha]

I think it's time to start taking Klöden seriously. Usually when he's going to suck, he sucks thoroughly. Might be a real contender.

I'm very happy for Evans. Gilbert made a stupid move, proving once again tactics are not his forte. This result was to be expected from the likes of Gesink and Basso, but Andy?

 

[patrick767]

Sure it was a short climb, but Thor just beat Andy Schleck on a climb. Amazing. So far Evans is looking fantastic too, but the most surprising and impressive ride has to go to the god of thunder for defending the yellow amidst all those climbers/GC guys.

 

[Kwibus]

Thor just now: "there is nothing left now, I was really deep today." talked about being " in the basement". his target is to keep it until Saturday, and had the outmost desire to keep it today.

Impressive. Really really impressive.
It's near impossible for such a heavy powerful guy to stick with riders like Gilbert, Evans and Contador on an uphill finish.

He had a dissapointing year so far, but since Suisse it's getting better. Specially this Tour he's been very impressive. Every single stage so far.
1st stage best of the rest.
TTT probably the strongest rider of Garmin,
3rd stage kamikaze through the last turn passing several riders and ending up infront of Julian Dean and thus pulling hard for Farrar who wins the stage.
Today ending in a top10 full of climbers.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

no more then wondering how the Giro will take it out of AC???

him too. in week 3 the giro could really hit him.

 

[sultanofhyd]

I guess most of the GC conteders did a ****load of work - some of them are just better time trialers so they spent more time at the front. I mean if you look at this from the perspective of energy wasted.

Andy sure did a ****load.

 

[sportzchick]

Cadel this year looks like Valverde in 2008 (no clinic implications intended). He is obviously on great form but I wonder if he can stay at this level for the next two and a half weeks.

I hope so...and with that im bed bound......its after 1am here

 

[therhodeo]

Also it may be on Wikipedia but no way does Thor weight 84kg.

 

[thehog]

I guess the question is if having the giro and the tdf back to back a good thing or a bad thing

Agreed. Time will tell in the final week if he can maintain form. One remembers last year Evans started well but the Giro caught up in the 2nd and 3rd weeks. As it did for Wiggo. Tbh now the others are going to be afraid of Contador. They cannot have him within a minute in the final time trial. Contador’s deficit makes for an exciting race. It also helps Saxo a lot because they really don’t have a team that can control and protect the yellow for a number of days on end. The strange thing here is Contador is 1:30 back but it’s up to the others to attack him. That’s a good position to be in.

 

[VeloCity]

I think you've lost a day my friend. Today is Tuesday if you're having trouble.

Oh, er, right. heh. I completely forgot about yesterday's stage.

 

[reyan12]

Andy will show his true form after the TDF i guess !

 

[jobiwan]

I think it's time to start taking Klöden seriously. Usually when he's going to suck, he sucks thoroughly. Might be a real contender.

I'm very happy for Evans. Gilbert made a stupid move, proving once again tactics are not his forte. This result was to be expected from the likes of Gesink and Basso, but Andy?

He lost a similar amount of time at Mende last year, if that means anything.

Still a little disappointing, though.

 

[BeachBum]

Rojas retained it with an impressive 12th place. Evans is second ... two points back.

Cool, thanks for the info. I didn't see the intermediate sprint so I didn't know how the points went for that one.

 

[yourwelcome]

don't think so.

LOL, yes that occurred to me as well a few seconds after posting (that Rijs wouldn't be at all worried about Andy's attitude)

 

[Archibald]

Where was Andy indeed? About to listen to Rijs screaming at him to take things more seriously?

erm... Rijs? which one's at Saxo?

 

[RdBiker]

Andy sure did a ****load.

He probably wasted as much energy as Contador (if not more) since I bet Leopard-Trek's effort was adjusted so that the Schlecks were able to barely keep up behind the train.

 

[Hartog]

Good to see Evans finally winning Tour stage. Well, he has one win in 2007 but didn't get to celebrate that back then since it was only due to original winner Vino being busted for doping.

Though the celebrations were Contadors.

 

[luckyboy]

Andy will show his true form after the TDF i guess !

Doubt it, he hasn't done anything since last year's Tour. Apart from following Gilbert at Liege.

 

[Descender]

1. EVANS Cadel 141 BMC RACING TEAM 4h 11' 39"
2. CONTADOR Alberto 1 SAXO BANK SUNGARD 4h 11' 39" + 00' 00"
3. VINOKOUROV Alexandre 61 PRO TEAM ASTANA 4h 11' 39" + 00' 00"
4. URAN Rigoberto 118 SKY PROCYCLING 4h 11' 39" + 00' 00"
5. GILBERT Philippe 32 OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO 4h 11' 39" + 00' 00"
6. HUSHOVD Thor 51 TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO 4h 11' 39" + 00' 00"
7. SCHLECK Frank 18 TEAM LEOPARD-TREK 4h 11' 39" + 00' 00"
8. SANCHEZ Samuel 21 EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 4h 11' 39" + 00' 00"
9. VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen 31 OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO 4h 11' 39" + 00' 00"
10. KLÖDEN Andréas 74 TEAM RADIOSHACK 4h 11' 39" + 00' 00"
11. WIGGINS Bradley 111 SKY PROCYCLING 4h 11' 45" + 00' 06"
12. ROJAS Jose Joaquin 88 MOVISTAR TEAM 4h 11' 45" + 00' 06"
13. BASSO Ivan 91 LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE 4h 11' 45" + 00' 06"
14. CUNEGO Damiano 161 LAMPRE - ISD 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"
15. KREUZIGER Roman 66 PRO TEAM ASTANA 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"
16. HORNER Christopher 72 TEAM RADIOSHACK 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"
17. GESINK Robert 41 RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"
18. DEVENYNS Dries 125 QUICK STEP CYCLING TEAM 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"
19. HESJEDAL Ryder 55 TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"
20. LEIPHEIMER Levi 75 TEAM RADIOSHACK 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"
21. MARTIN Tony 175 HTC - HIGHROAD 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"
22. MILLAR David 56 TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"
23. SCHLECK Andy 11 TEAM LEOPARD-TREK 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"
24. GAUTIER Cyril 183 TEAM EUROPCAR 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"
25. FUGLSANG Jakob 13 TEAM LEOPARD-TREK 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"
26. DANIELSON Tom 52 TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"
27. MOLLEMA Bauke 45 RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"
28. INTXAUSTI Benat 86 MOVISTAR TEAM 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"
29. THOMAS Geraint 117 SKY PROCYCLING 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"
30. HAGEN Edvald Boasson 114 SKY PROCYCLING 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"
31. VANDE VELDE Christian 58 TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"
32. VELITS Peter 179 HTC - HIGHROAD 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"
33. VAN GARDEREN Tejay 178 HTC - HIGHROAD 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"
34. BRAJKOVIC Janez 71 TEAM RADIOSHACK 4h 11' 47" + 00' 08"

 

[perico]

Impressive. Really really impressive.
It's near impossible for such a heavy powerful guy to stick with riders like Gilbert, Evans and Contador on an uphill finish.

He had a dissapointing year so far, but since Suisse it's getting better. Specially this Tour he's been very impressive. Every single stage so far.
1st stage best of the rest.
TTT probably the strongest rider of Garmin,
3rd stage kamikaze through the last turn passing several riders and ending up infront of Julian Dean and thus pulling hard for Farrar who wins the stage.
Today ending in a top10 full of climbers.

It was a great ride by Thor today, as well as Vande Velde, who pulled him up into the front and then dropped back to the :08 sec group. His form is on this year. Danielson and Hesjadel also finished in the :08 sec group. It looks like the only guy shooting for the Top 10 who finished behind that group was Roche, and he's probably a very long shot for a Top 10 placing.

Great win by Evans. Nice riding by Alberto.

 

[will10]

Agreed. Time will tell in the final week if he can maintain form. One remembers last year Evans started well but the Giro caught up in the 2nd and 3rd weeks. As it did for Wiggo. Tbh now the others are going to be afraid of Contador. They cannot have him within a minute in the final time trial. Contador’s deficit makes for an exciting race. It also helps Saxo a lot because they really don’t have a team that can control and protect the yellow for a number of days on end. The strange thing here is Contador is 1:30 back but it’s up to the others to attack him. That’s a good position to be in.

If Evans still has 1:30 over Contador before the final TT then he will win. Contador ain't that great in long ITTs.

 

[c&cfan]

AC not able to drop the GC guys on a steep climb- that's new. OK, the climb was short, but it was steep enough for him. If Andy has lost some seconds that's just because this kind of climb still does not fit him (like last year when AC chased Vino down on that one stage on a similar climb). Another nice fact: No stage win for AC. Evans seems to be in great shape. Nice to see him taking the glory. Will be exciting to see what he will be able to do in the Alps or the Pyrenees. Oh, and personally I am glad that Klöden was also there today.

do you realize how wrong you are??steep climb??

it was steep for what?500m? the last part was almost flat. and evans (a more muscular guy at his specialty) almost lost to the skinny man. he better pray for contador to not be at his best in the 3rd weak because he has the giro in his legs.

 

[Dutchsmurf]

He lost a similar amount of time at Mende last year, if that means anything.

Still a little disappointing, though.

Today it looked like a lot easier than Mende tho. And it isn't really that he lost time that is the problem, but the way in which it happened. Even his brother could follow, while usually those two stick together. You saw Frank looking back a couple times to find his brother. Now would be the perfect time for Riis to start mindgames.

 

[maxmartin]

let'a hope so, he got caught up in the split again today, has to work his way back not a good sign

Ivan Basso was only 6 seconds back. His form is coming around.