Tour de France 2010 – Stage 4

Ale Jet flies again!! The 4th Stage of the TdF was from Cambrai to Reims a distance of 154km and was an extremely peaceful ride, when compared to the fare that we have seen in the last 3 days!! A stage where the Sprinters of the teams were to fight it out in a bunch finish, turned out to be exactly that. Cambrai, from where the tour started of today has a population of around 34,000 and the last time the Tour visited the town the US Postal team with Lance Armstrong had taken over the race and the Yellow jersey. The finish town of Reims with a population of almost 200,000 is becoming a part of the tour for the 11th time. Known as the Land of Champagne production, Reims is bordered by the prestigious slopes of the Montagne de Reims and is home to many famous champagne houses. Also in 1991, Notre-Dame cathedral was declared as an UNESCO world heritage site. Connected to Paris via the TGV high-speed train line, which ensures one a journey time of just 45 minutes, this city also boasts a student heavy population. The stage began at Cambrai with 189 riders. Two more riders David de Lay of Ag2r & Franck Schleck of Team Saxo Bank had to call it quits due to broken bones. The stage having just one small climb & three intermediate sprints started of with Dimiti Champion of Ag2r attacking even before the 2km mark. Champion was successful in riding away from the peleton but was joined by four other riders – Francis de Greef of OmegaPharma Lotto, Inaki Isasi of Euskaltel Euskadi, Nicholas Vogondy of Bbox Telecom and Iban Mayoz of Footon Servetto and these five constituted the breakaway for the day. With none of the teams wanting to spend time in the front to drive the peleton it was left to HTC Columbia & Lampre who each sent one rider to the front to bridge the gap between the breakaway & the peleton. Team RadioShack lined up just behind the lead riders for almost the whole of the distance, till the sprinter’s teams started the actual chase to catch the breakaway. With 4km to go the peleton swallowed the breakaway and Cervalo Test team & Lampre both sent a few riders upfront to try & take control of the race. But it was HTC Columbia train that actually did majority of the drive to the finish line. With the finish line looming ahead, Mark Renshaw set up Mark Cavendish in the perfect position for the Manx Missile to blast away. But for some odd reason Cavendish just could not keep up the pace and with 200m to go faltered. This was exactly the time when Alessandro Petacchi “Ale Jet” took off from the slipstream of Cavendish and brushed aside all other sprinters to comfortably take the stage – his second of the 2010 tour. Garmin Transitions having lost Tyler Farrer’s sprint ability due to crashes in the past 3 days fared well as Julian Dean came in second with Robbie Hunter finishing 5th. Edvald Boasson Hagen of Team Sky came in third while wily old fox Robbie Mecwen managed to grab the forth spot. Green Jersey aspirants Thor Hushovd of Cervalo came in 9th while Cavendish could only finish 12th. Though Cancellara finished 24th in the positions the whole peleton was allotted the same time.

After winning the stage “Ale Jet” wanted to put the records straight and said, “Today I proved I could win in all circumstances. I’ve heard more or less some comments saying that the victory was that of Brussels “old man”, but this time I have received no advantage because of crashes of my rivals. I want to thank my team because it is through them that I participate again in races at this level. Now, with two wins, I could very well go home and consider that my job is finished. Two wins on the Tour de France is already exceptional.” But he promised to try & win more stages for his team. After yesterday’s mechanical setback on the cobbles, Lance Armstrong was quoted as saying, “Cycling as a sport is like Hammer & Nails, all these years I was the hammer, today I was nailed”. Philosophical ruminations from a champ who knows he is down but who will not give up without a fight. With this stage getting over quite peacefully, the over all race results remain the same with Fabian Cancellara of Team Saxo Bank in the Yellow & Thor Hushovd in the Green jersey. Geraint Thomas of Team Sky continues in the White jersey, Jerome Pineau of Quick Step in the Polka dotted Climber’s jersey and also Team Saxo Bank who continue as the best team in the race. So till tomorrow …. Au revoir… This is a guest post by Mr.Q, a professional quizmaster and an ardent Tour de France fan who is reporting his 2nd full tour. You can reach him at mrquizmaster@gmail.com