Greg Van Avermaet takes back the race lead in early sprints
Robbie McEwen (RadioShack) finally took his first win of the season in the fourth stage of the Tour de Wallonie between Enghien and Mouscron. After going too early the day before, the Australian veteran timed his burst to the line to perfection, finishing well clear of Alexander Kristoff (BMC Racing) in second place, and Yauheni Hutarovich (FDJ) in third at the end of the 152km stage.
“The guys did a really good job staying in the front and keeping myself and Manuel Cardoso out of the wind and up where we needed to be,” explained McEwen aftewards. “Towards the end and in the final, Bjørn Selander did a good job for me, keeping me in position and out of the wind and following my instructions right until the last 1.5 kilometer where I took Bennati’s wheel on the lead out of Leopard-Trek.”
”I was originally going to pull the sprint for Cardoso since the team worked for me yesterday and it didn’t work out,” he continued. “But I was in the perfect position and Manuel lost some positions at the crucial moment, so we had to cut to plan B. That plan was pretty good.”
After losing the race lead in the last intermediate sprint of the day on the previous stage Greg Van Avermaet had the BMC Racing team comtrol the front of the peloton in the early kilometres. The Belgian could only manage third at the first sprint, behind Koen De Kort (Skil Shimano) and Nikolay Trusov (Katusha), but the single second was enough to draw equal on time to current leader Joost Van Leijen (Vacansoleil-DCM).
Van Avermaet won the second sprint, after 25km, ahead of Van Leijen to pull ahead by a single second; at the third sprint though, after 44km, Van Leijen beat Van Avermaet to draw level once more. The race leader would be decided at the finish, either by further time bonuses or by accumulated finishing positions, as after stage two.
With the intermediate sprints out of the way the peloton relaxed and Martin Mortensen (Leopard Trek) and Grégory Habeaux (Verandas Willems-Accent) escaped. They were joined by Artem Ovechkin (Katusha) and Kévin Reza (Europcar), and the four riders became the break of the day.
The quartet’s lead over the peloton was to grow to a maximum of 4’19” with 84km to go, as the peloton was regrouping after a crash. At this point Van Leijen’s Vacansoleil-DCM team took control and began to pull the group back.
As the leaders crossed the finish line to start the first of four 17.5km circuits, which crossed the border into France, their lead was down to 2’31”. This was reduced to 2’14” by the time they crossed it a third time to start the penultimate lap, and as they took the bell it was just 1’25”.
On the final lap the Omega Pharma-Lotto and FDJ teams came forward to help in the chase, and the gap steadily closed. With 10km to go the lead was down to 43 seconds, and with 5km to go it was just 16 seconds.
With the peloton breathing down his neck with 4km to go Mortensen put in one final defiant attack; more for the benefit of his Leopard Trek team in the peloton, who would not have to work while he was up the road, than for himself. He Danish rider stubbornly held out for a few moments, but was finally caught with 3km to go.
Leopard Trek then came to the front, for stage three winner Daniele Bennati, but Quick Step and Team Sky were also present at the front, with RadioShack and BMC Racing behind. McEwen launched his sprint from behind he Leopard Trek train and his burst of speed took him more than a length clear as he hit the line.
Result stage 4
1. Robbie McEwen (Aus) RadioShack
2. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) BMC Racing Team
3. Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) FDJ
4. Michael Van Staeyen (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator
5. Kenny Dehaes (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
6. Kristof Goddaert (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
7. Jonas Vangenechten (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles-Crédit Agricole
8. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
9. Daniele Bennati (Ita) Leopard Trek
10. Joost Van Leijen (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM
Standings after stage 4
1. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
2. Joost Van Leijen (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM
3. Ben Hermans (Bel) RadioShack @ 16s
4. Nikolai Trussov (Rus) Katusha @ 17s
5. Michal Golas (Pol) Vacansoleil-DCM @ 20s