The flat stages in the Tour de France are usually the least
action-packed of the Tour, but that’s not to say that they’re boring.
Far from it, in fact – Stage 4 kept us guessing right up until the last
minute and had us jumping out of our seats at the very end. The classic
French scenery, some very clever tactics and some truly world-class
riding showed us why we stay up until all hours of the morning for this
magnificent race.
Today’s stage left the town of Rouen, rolling across the Somme valley
of central northern France to Saint-Quentin, a region of great
significance to many Australians because of its World War I
connections. Frenchman Mathieu Ladagnous (FDJ-Bigmat) had other things on his mind today than history, setting up the day’s successful break soon after the départ réel with Jan Ghyselinck (Cofidis), Julien Simon (Saur-Sojasun) and Pablo Urtasun Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) for company.
The quartet of the day disappeared into the distance, building up a
nice little lead of nearly six minutes after 30 kilometres, the peloton
having a leisurely ride at 39km/h. For the third day in a row there was
a birthday in the bunch – BMC’s Philippe Gilbert turned 30 as he rode along with teammates in the peloton.
But not everyone was having such a happy day. Marcel Kittel, the Argos-Shimano
sprinter who was expected to be the revelation of this year’s Tour,
finally pulled out of the race after a nasty bout of gastroenteritis
left the German too physically drained to continue. Despite Kittel’s
indisposition, Argos-Shimano has remained competitive in the sprints,
Kittel’s chief leadout man Tom Veelers managing to claim a few top-10 finishes in his friend’s absence.
The peloton – and the breakaway, cruising three minutes ahead –
continued to roll through the greenified Somme, passing any number of
beautiful historical buildings dating far beyond the First World War.
The peloton left the escapees alone for a while, focusing on the sprint
point, which the unconcerned breakaway rolled right through. Sadly,
though, the intermediate sprint point was becoming fairly predictable,
and despite the various sprint trains establishing themselves,
FDJ-Bigmat weighing in this time for Yauheni Hutarovich, it was once again Mark Cavendish (Sky) who took a very narrow victory over Orica-GreenEDGE’s Matt Goss.
Intermediate sprint over, the peloton could focus on bringing in the breakaway, former teammates Stuart O’Grady (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Jens Voigt (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek) conferring at the front of the peloton on how to bring the escapees home. With the help of Lotto Belisol
the pair continued to chip slowly away at the quartet’s lead, down to
2’15” at 50 kilometres from Saint-Quentin. It seemed likely that the
peloton would be caught well within the next 40 kilometres, allowing
plenty of time for the usual posturing between teams preparing for the
sprint.
But it wasn’t the case. As Stéphane Augé,
sports director of Ghyselinck’s Cofidis squad, had said, around 25
kilometres from the end of the stage the four breakaway riders suddenly
turned up the gas and kept on moving. As they raced through a series of
small French towns, streets packed five-deep with cheering locals and
fans, the four wily escapees kept the racing peloton at bay with their
high speed, five kilometres faster than their average for the rest of
the day.
At first the peloton appeared annoyed that the leading four were
forcing them to prolong the inevitable, but as the clock continued to
tick down and the distance counter ticked down faster, irritation turned
to concern. The peloton began to turn into a rainbow as teams grouped
together for a sprint that might or might not eventuate – Team Sky on
the left in the black-with-blue-stripe was leading out for Cavendish
(while keeping leader Bradley Wiggins out of trouble), on the right in
red and black was BMC protecting Cadel Evans, in between splodges of
orange for Euskaltel-Euskadi, navy for Movistar, and a line of hot pink
for the Lampre-ISD boys readying Petacchi for the sprint. The breakaway
was just keeping hold of its advantage as the rainbow quilt bore down,
but when the leaders still had one minute at the 10 kilometre banner,
things suddenly started looking very interesting. FDJ breakaway rider
Ladagnous had led a nearly-successful breakaway in the Tour before and
claimed 11th – was this his belated take-two?
Four kilometres from the finish and the breakaway was barrelling down
a dead straight road, the peloton breathing down their necks just 25
seconds behind. Loyalties in the break were beginning to fracture when
they were given the distraction they needed. A crash in the front part
of the peloton took off the pressure for just a few seconds as teams
established where their leaders and sprinters were and tried to
regroup. The serious contenders were clear of the drama, though, Sky,
BMC and the sprint trains holding the key front positions that spared
them involvement, and the diminished peloton continued at a rip-roaring
pace down the rue de Paris.
But the tenacity in today’s lead group was at a premium, Jan
Ghyselinck launching a perfectly-timed attack 1.4 kilometres from the
end, flying away from his companions and towards the finish as though he
had wings, dreaming of the stage victory. But the five-or six-second
gap wasn’t going to keep him safe, the peloton rounding the second-last
corner and appearing on his heels. Even a last-ditch dash by Pablo
Urtasun Perez couldn’t salvage a breakaway stage win, and suddenly the
escapees were absorbed by the peloton just 600 metres from the finish,
and suddenly the sprint was on.
Though their train seemed to be invisible, Orica-GreenEDGE
once again managed to deliver Matt Goss to a perfectly-lined-up stage
win, the Tasmanian going hell-for-leather towards his first Tour de
France victory. But perfect just wasn’t good enough on this stage,
Lotto Belisol’s André Greipel managing to pip him by a bike length for a second consecutive stage win, leaving Gossy in second with Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank’s Juan José Haedo claiming third.
Stage 6 will be the final flat stage before some serious hills kick
in on Stage 7, meaning we can expect another good sprint tomorrow. This
is likely Cavendish’s last sprint stage of this year’s Tour, and he’ll
be looking to go out with a bang, but green jersey Peter Sagan
has missed the last two sprints from delays in crashes and will be
equally hungry. Right now, though, it’s André Greipel who dominates the
sprints, and there’s also Matt Goss, desperately trying to find the
power to convert thirds, seconds and intermediate firsts into a stage
win. This may well be the deciding stage in a fierce green jersey
competition, so definitely one not to be missed.
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