Alessandro Petacchi celebrates his Stage 4 win at the Tour de France (James Startt)
The Cambria to Reims stage 4 segment of the 2010 Tour de France finally saw some resemblance organization and calmness amongst the peloton as they were given a chance to ride the 153.5 km stage without too much headache. The beginning 3 stages of this year’s Tour de France has be plagued with extreme conditions, wrecks and even a random dog making its way into the peloton that has put on time for some riders and shattered 2010 victory hopes of others (Frank Schlek). With a chance to regain composure and recover from a brutal series of stages, the Tour riders capitalized and enjoyed what would seem to be a normal day of Tour racing with team Columbia/HTC doing much of the work.
At the end of the day, Fabian Cancellara gets to keep the yellow jersey through to stage 5 and Alessandro Petacchi sprinted his way to another 2010 Tour victory ahead of the typical sprinting hopefuls. At 36 years of age, Petacchi is the old man in the sprinting crowd. With a second Tour victory under his belt for 2010, Petacchi is destroying the younger crowd in the early stages.
“Today’s victory proved that I didn’t just get lucky at Stage 1,” Petacchi said. “And it also proved that I’m not the ‘old man’ some of you call me.”
My career has spanned three generations of sprinters,” he said. “I started with Cipollini, then raced when Robbie McEwen was at the top and now with the Cavendish generation. Although I could be beat by any of these riders, I could also hold my own…I may not be the fastest sprinter. But I am at this moment.”
Next: Stage 5 – Epernay – Montargis – 187.5 km
Stage 4 Results
| 1 | Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini | 3:34:55 | |
| 2 | Julian Dean (NZl) Garmin – Transitions | ||
| 3 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Professional Cycling Team | ||
| 4 | Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team Katusha | ||
| 5 | Robert Hunter (RSA) Garmin – Transitions | ||
| 6 | Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom | ||
| 7 | Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne | ||
| 8 | Daniel Oss (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo | ||
| 9 | Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team | ||
| 10 | Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank |
GC Contention Results After Stage 4
| 1 | Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank | 18:28:55 | |
| 2 | Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky Professional Cycling Team | 0:00:23 | |
| 3 | Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team | 0:00:39 | |
| 4 | Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin – Transitions | 0:00:46 | |
| 5 | Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step | 0:01:01 | |
| 6 | Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank | 0:01:09 | |
| 7 | Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team | 0:01:19 | |
| 8 | Alexander Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana | 0:01:31 | |
| 9 | Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana | 0:01:40 | |
| 10 | Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto | 0:01:42 |