Volta ao Algarve

Stage 4: Cacela - Tavira 169km/105mi

By Cathy Mehl

The taste of victory sits sweet in the mouth of Sébastien ‘Séba’ Rosseler after putting on an impressive display of power to secure the first win for Team RadioShack in Saturday’s 4th stage of the Volta ao Algarve.  After placing himself in the day-long break, Seba attacked his group at 28km to go and immediately established a gap, pushing it to 54-seconds at one point.  With legs pumping the Belgian rider continued to hold his advantage and stormed into the Tavira finish line with 20-seconds in hand.  Rosseler pumped his fist as he crossed the line and chalked himself up as the first team winner.  Mickael Delage (Omega Pharma – Lotto  and Imanol Erviti (Caisse d’Epargne) took second and third as survivors from the original break.  Alberto Contador (Astana) retained his yellow jersey for a second day, with Team RadioShack’s Tiago Machado and Levi Leipheimer sitting in second and third place. For Rosseler this is his seventh victory as a professional rider. Last year he was the best in the time trials of the Four-Day-Race of Dunkerque and the Tour of Belgium.

“What a surprise!” said Sébastien Rosseler after the stage. “Yesterday I felt so tired, but this morning I was motivated again. I intended to work for Tiago Machado and Levi Leipheimer, to keep them out of the wind but then I saw the opportunity to jump to the breakaway. This was maybe a chance to help the Team to a first victory of the season. We all expected a mass sprint but as Gert Steegmans is not here any more, we knew we had to take other initiatives. I dedicate this victory to Gert anyway. I hope he will get ready for the first races in Belgium next weekend. I am so happy. Thanks to my Team Directors.”

“I told  Séba to attack as the peloton was coming closer,” said Team Director José Azevedo. “It was better to attack when the gap was still 3 minutes than when it was 1 minute. It was hard for Séba, but he is so strong…”

One-hundred fifty-four riders started the next-to-last stage under overcast skies.  Several early attacks finally resulted in a successful break which Rosseler eventually joined. With no real overall threats in the group, Astana controlled the main field for Contador with Team RadioShack sitting in just behind as the gap grew to over five minutes.  The break worked well together until under 30km to go and it was time for Rosseler to fly.  “Never give Rosseler 100 meter advantage. You will not catch him,” added Team Director Dirk Demol. “We saw that he was the strongest rider uphill. With fast guys like Delage and Keisse, we could not take any risk. What a strong guy Rosseler is! The course was very hard, but he impressed us the whole day. I think we have not yet seen the best of him. Séba is one of our key riders for the classics. I think he will be ready for it.”

In addition to Rosseler’s win, Machado wears the pink jersey as the highest-placed Portugese and Team RadioShack leads the Teams classification in the overall.  One stage remains in Algarve, the 17.2km time trial on Sunday.  Rosseler, Machado, Leipheimer and Klöden all excel in the race against the clock and after today’s stage win will be especially motivated to keep the team momentum rolling in the race of truth.  Good luck, guys!

Beyond the Finish Line: Beautiful empty beaches with sand that seems to go on forever. Fields of orange trees, heavy with the scent of blossom.  See the hills of fig and almond trees and houses with dazzling whitewashed walls and distinctive chimneys decorated to resemble fine tracery of lace. Throw in the great open spaces. Tavira is a charming area, perfect for a beach vacation.

Top Ten Results

1 Sebastien Rosseler (Bel) Team RadioShack 4:12:46  

2 Mickael Delage (Fra) Omega Pharma - Lotto 0:00:20  

3 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne    

4 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator    

5 Egoi Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:00:24  

6 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Quick Step 0:02:50  

7 André Greipel (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia 0:03:00  

8 Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick Step    

9 Samuel Caldeira (Por) Palmeiras Resort - Prio    

10 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank

Team RadioShack on Stage 4

14 Andreas Klöden (Ger)

27 Tiago Machado (Por)

53 Sergio Paulinho (Por)    

54 Levi Leipheimer (USA)

56 Grégory Rast (Swi)

General Classification after Stage 4

1 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana 19:36:03  

2 Tiago Machado (Por) Team RadioShack 0:00:15  

3 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team RadioShack 0:00:28  

4 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:00:35  

5 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) Team HTC - Columbia    

6 Rui Costa (Por) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:40  

7 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:43  

8 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team RadioShack    

9 Matthew Lloyd (Aus) Omega Pharma - Lotto    

10 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha

Team RadioShack on General Classification

28 Sergio Paulinho (Por) 0:01:26

53 Grégory Rast (Swi) 0:04:15

73 Sebastien Rosseler (Bel) 0:12:21

Photos courtesy of Nico Verecken