Giro di Sardegna

Stage 4: Carbonia to Iglesias, 181.5km/113mi

By Cathy Mehl

Team RadioShack’s young Russian Ivan Rovny continues to impress in Sardegna with his fifth place finish in the 4^th stage of the Giro di Sardegna behind sprint winner Danilo Hondo (Lampre-Farnese Vini) on a slightly uphill finish. A spectator stuck their arm too far out on the course and caused a crash near the finish line, causing several riders to go down, including yesterday’s winner Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre).  It is believed the downed riders are only bruised and should be able to start on Saturday.

The start of the race was very fast with an average first hour of 48.5km/30mph.   After just two kilometers of racing a small group went away that included Pavel Brutt of Team Katusha.  Liquigas and Lampre controled the pace in the main field to set up the group sprint.

The final stage is 140.6km/87mi from Sant’ Antioco to Cagliari.  Four seconds separate Kreuziger and Horner but with a very flat final 60km there is probably no place to attack and gain time.

It’s a full week-end of racing for Team RadioShack.   Besides the finale of the Giro di Sardegna on Saturday, we’ll have a team line up in Belgium for the start of the semi-classics season in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.  Sunday will be the La Classica in Sardegna as well as Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in Belgium.   

The Team line-up for the Belgium next races:

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (Bel), 02/27/2010

Riders: Fumiyuki Beppu, Sam Bewley, Daryl Impey, Gregory Rast, Sébastien Rosseler, Bjorn Selander, Gert Steegmans & Tomas Vaitkus

Director: Dirk Demol

Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne (Bel), 02/28/2010

Riders: Fumiyuki Beppu, Sam Bewley, Daryl Impey, Gregory Rast, Sébastien Rosseler, Bjorn Selander, Gert Steegmans & Tomas Vaitkus

Director: Dirk Demol

Beyond the Finish Line:  On Sargedna you will find mountain ranges like Gennargentu whose highest peaks are Punta La Marmora, Monte Limbara, and Mount Rasu. As you travel inland on the island of Sardinia, you will encounter several gorgeous rivers, rugged flatlands, plains, and plateaus.

Top Ten Results

1        Danilo Hondo (Ger) Lampre-Farnese Vini           4:25:01        

2        Giovanni Visconti (Ita) ISD - Neri               

3        Sacha Modolo (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox               

4        Massimo Giunti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli              

5        Ivan Rovny (Rus) Team Radioshack                     

6        Serguei Klimov (Rus) Team Katusha                    

7        Aitor Perez Arrieta (Spa) Footon-Servetto                     

8        Fabio Taborre (Ita) Androni Giocattoli                 

9        Fabio Felline (Ita) Footon-Servetto              

10      Damiano Caruso (Ita) De Rosa - Stac Plastic

Team RadioShack on Stage 4

14      Christopher Horner (USA)

24      Jani Brajkovic (Slo)

27      Matthew Busche (USA)                     

28      Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra)

40      Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa)

43      Ben Hermans (Bel)

49      Dimitriy Muravyev (Rus) 0:00:47

General Classification after Stage 4

1        Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas-Doimo  18:43:15        

2        Christopher Horner (USA) Team Radioshack  0:00:04           

3        Thomas Voeckler (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom         0:00:06        

4        Damiano Caruso (Ita) De Rosa - Stac Plastic  0:00:10  

5        Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Team Radioshack               

6        Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Miche                 

7        Michele Scarponi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli            

8        Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox  0:00:13         

9        Cristiano Salerno (Ita) De Rosa - Stac Plastic  0:00:17  

10      Giovanni Visconti (Ita) ISD - Neri  0:00:23

Team RadioShack on General Classification

14      Ivan Rovny (Rus) 0:00:34

20      Ben Hermans (Bel) 0:00:36

28      Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) 0:01:51

39      Dimitriy Muravyev (Rus) 0:05:44

56      Matthew Busche (USA) 0:17:44

66      Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa) 0:23:51  

Photo courtesy of Graham Watson