Stage and race lead for Frenchman as David Millar joins the escape
Anthony Roux (FDJ) won the fourth stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe-Pays de la Loire between Angers and Pré-en-Pail as David Millar (Garmin-Cervélo) was true to his word and put race leader Daniele Bennati (Leopard Trek) under pressure. Roux crossed the line ahead of Blel Kadri (AG2R La Mondiale) and FDJ teammate Pierrick Fédrigo to make an all-French podium at the end of the 181.1km stage.
After several early attempts to escape, Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Cervélo) and former teammate Svein Tuft (Spidertech) got away after 10km. Despite Zabriskie’s third position in the overall rankings, just 16 seconds behind Bennati, the American was allowed to build a huge lead over the first half of the stage.
After 20km Mathieu Sprick (Skil-Shimano) set off in pursuit of the leading pair. He was unable to make any progress on them however, never getting closer than 1’46”, and after 33km, with Zabriskie and Tuft leading by 5’30”, he gave up and waited for the peloton.
With Leopard Trek controlling the front of the peloton, the two leaders managed to stretch their advantage to 7’10” by the 62km point before it began to fall. As they hit the first climb of the day, after 87km, the advantage was visibly dropping as Bennati’s team steadily pulled them in.
With the Colombia es Pasion-Cafe de Colombia team joining Leopard Trek in the chase, the gap to Zabriskie and Tuft fell steadily. When the two riders reached the tough climb of the Sommet des Avaloirs, which would be climbed a total of six times, the lead was down to just 3’50”.
On the climb Yann Huguet and Simon Geschke (both Skil-Shimano), and Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) escaped and followed Zabriskie and Tuft over the line, to start the five tough finishing circuits, 2’10” behind; the peloton followed at 3’05” but was now gaining fast.
On the second time up the climb Zabriskie was suffering and was forced to let Tuft go. The Canadian could now feel the peloton on his heels though, as teams chasing the stage victory, particularly FDJ and Europcar, were now pulling the peloton behind him.
Tuft was caught just after he crossed the line to start the second lap and, as the peloton hit the climb for the third time, Voeckler and Fédrigo attacked. The two former teammates were quickly joined by Kadri, Nicolas Vogondy (Cofidis), Alexandre Geniez (Skil-Shimano) and David Millar (Garmin-Cervélo). By the top of the climb they led by 33 seconds, making Millar the race leader on the road; behind them Bennati was dropped from the peloton, meaning that he would likely lose his race lead anyway.
The gap to the leaders remained static, but on the final time up the climb Millar was dropped by the leaders and found himself drifting back to the peloton. He was joined by an attacking Roux though, and the two riders managed to get back up to the leaders.
Having spent less time in front, Roux found himself fresher than the rest at the finish and managed to take the sprint, ahead of Kadri and Fédrigo.
Although Millar finished in the same time, he missed out on the bonus seconds and Roux, who started the day just 1 second behind the Scotsman, took the race lead to go with his stage victory.
Bennati crossed the line 6’09” back, ending his overall chances in the race, but with his confidence lifted after his two stage victories.