American Tyler Farrar of the Garmin-Slipstream team retained the overall lead of the Eneco Tour by winning the race’s fourth stage after a sprint battle with Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen and Italian Francesco Gavazzi.
It is Farrar’s third win of the race after he won the opening two stages.
Sunday’s fifth stage will lead the peloton over 204.3km from Roermond to Sittard-Geleen in the Netherlands on some of the roads traditionally used by the hilly one-day classic the Amstel Gold Race.
On several occasions Farrar came close to upstaging British sprint rival Mark Cavendish on this year’s Tour de France, where the Isle of Man rider, who rides for Columbia, won a stunning six stages to take his career tally to 10.
However, Farrar has since shown his emerging talent, and made slight amends by becoming the first American to win the Hamburg Cyclassics last weekend although a host of top fast men, including Cavendish were absent.
Stage:
1. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin – Slipstream 5:27:01
2. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Columbia – HTC s.t.
3. Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Lampre – N.G.C. s.t.
4. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Silence-Lotto s.t.
5. Kristof Goddaert (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator s.t.
Overall:
1. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin – Slipstream 17:51:13
2. Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step 0:00:20
3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Columbia – HTC 0:00:23
4. Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step 0:00:35
5. Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Rabobank 0:00:37
6. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas s.t.
7. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin – Slipstream s.t.
8. Joost Posthuma (Ned) Rabobank s.t.
9. Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Rabobank 0:00:39
10. Nikolas Maes (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator 0:00:40