Tour de France

Stage 4: Cambrai to Reims, 153.5km/95mi

By Cathy Mehl

No stage is easy in the Tour de France, but today’s shorter stage was a welcome relief from the stress of the previous two days.   On the first pure sprinter’s stage the fast men of the sport barged and battled for position to get to the tape first.  HTC-Columbia put their men on the front and seized control to stretch out the peloton on the city streets of Reims, but their man Mark Cavendish waited too long to begin his sprint when Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre) came along the barriers to claim his165th career and second stage in this year’s Tour.  Second place went to Julian Dean (Garmin) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) took third.  There was no change overall with Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) holding tight to the maillot jaune with 23 seconds over Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) and thirty-nine seconds to world champion Cadel Evans (BMC).  Team RadioShack’s best-placed rider remains Lance Armstrong in 18th place at 2:30 behind Cancellara.

Speaking about yesterday’s tough day in the saddle, Team Manager Johan Bruyneel commented, “We had Klodi with a broken wheel just before section 4.  We had the stop in the peloton because of Frank Schleck’s crash.  Then Lance and Levi both punctured.  From then on there was nothing we could do anymore.  We are all disappointed for the loss of two minutes to Andy (Schleck), 50-seconds to (Alberto) Contador and a bit more on the other favorites.  It’s two-and-a-half weeks to go.  What happened to us can happen to somebody else tomorrow.”

Bruyneel continued with, “There are pros and cons to every situation.  Andy got a lot of time but he lost his brother.  So…you don’t know what is going to be the biggest advantage:  the two minutes or the help of his brother in the mountains?  For us, we lost time but fortunately we have no major injuries.  Let’s see in the mountains how strong we can be as a team all together.”

Regarding the time Lance lost on the stage, Bruyneel reflected on the previous seven Tours won by Armstrong.  “Lance never had bad luck in the Tour before.  This is the first time.  We knew that the stage was potentially dangerous and we had the bad luck, but I think Lance defended himself very well.  He fought back and he limited his losses as much as he could.  We have to look forward but I think we will have to wait for the hilly stages to take some time back,” he concluded.

“It’s nice that I, no, that everybody, stayed out of trouble today,” said Lance after the stage.  “You cannot have bad luck three days in a row.  It’s a new challenge now.  We will have to pick out a few guys and focus on them.”

Plenty of sunshine with temperatures near 83F was on tap for today’s southerly route from Cambrai to Reims on one of the shorter stages of this year’s Tour.  After over just two kilometers of racing a break of five riders went clear to establish the break of the day. Saxo Bank initially put their men on the front but later in the stage it was all RadioShack on the front of the main field.

On wide roads rolling into the technical streets of the city of Reims, the break of five still held 15-seconds with the peloton just nipping at their heels but unorganized to make the catch.  The peloton was finally all together at 3km and the race was on for a mass sprint to the line.   The closing roundabouts made for some disruption and chaos as the teams of the sprinters tried to keep themselves organized.  It was finally Petacchi who saw his opportunity to roar up the side to take the win.

Overnight it was confirmed that Saxo Bank’s Frank Schleck broke his collarbone in three places and had a 3-plus hour surgery to put in a metal plate to hold it in place.  Lance had a similar procedure for his broken collarbone in 2009.  Only 13 teams have full teams still intact with no loss of riders.  Team RadioShack is one of the teams still supporting a full roster.

The Tour continues on Thursday with Stage 4.  The cyclists will ride 187.5km from Épernay to arrive southeast of Paris in Montargis on largely flat roads perfect for another group gallop. 

Beyond the Finish Line: Reims is located in the Champagne region of France and home to my favorite “everyday” champagne, Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin.  What is the perfect pouring temperature for champagne?  It should be adapted for each type of champagne:  young, non-vintage champagne (no year on the lable) should be poured around 8C/46F, whereas mature wines, Vintages and La Grande Dames, should be poured between 12C and 14C/54F and 57F.  Cheers!

Top Ten 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

Team RadioShack Results

36           Lance Armstrong (USA)

52           Andreas Klöden (Ger)                     

53           Grégory Rast (Swi)

55           Levi Leipheimer (USA)

66           Jani Brajkovic (Slo)

72           Christopher Horner (USA)

88           Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr)

119         Sergio Paulinho (Por)

186         Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz)  0:03:08

General Classification 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

Team RadioShack on General Classification

18           Lance Armstrong (USA)   0:02:30              

24           Levi Leipheimer (USA)   0:02:53 

27           Jani Brajkovic (Slo)  0:03:00

29           Andreas Klöden (Ger)   0:03:01

43           Christopher Horner (USA)   0:03:17

52           Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr)   0:03:26

124         Sergio Paulinho (Por)   0:12:17     

125         Grégory Rast (Swi)   0:12:35

178         Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz)  0:24:58

Photos courtesy of Graham Watson