Tour de France stage 4 - Petacchi Shines as Cavendish fades

All eyes were on Mark Cavendish today with the Manxman badly needing a win on a tailor-made stage to kick start his green jersey challenge but he culdn't find the legs to take the line and sat up in the final run in. It was Lampre's Alessandro Petacchi who took the spoils on the day ahead of Julian Dean of Garmin-Transitions and Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen.

After the fireworks of the first three stages, today's 153km bimble from Cambrai to Reims – the shortest on this year's tour – always looked destined to be a bunch sprint. Although a break went away early on containing Dimitri Champion (AG2R-La Mondiale), Nicolas Vogondy (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), Francis De Greef (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Iban Mayoz (Footon-Servetto) and Iñaki Isasi (Euskaltel) It was never allowed too far down the road; althugh Isasi was briefly in virtual yellow as the gap approached four minutes their advantage was down to less than sixty seconds by the final sprint.

There was plenty of trepidation in the peloton about the run-in which featured nine roundabouts in the last five kilometres before a long, straight finish. With 30km to go the sprinters and many of the GC contentders were already lining up at the front to try and stay out of trouble, with the escapees in their sights. The break worked hard but was never going to stay out and by the 10km mark the race was almost back together, but a final effort by the break kept the peloton at bay and they refused to give up until they were finally reeled in with just 3km to go as the race entered Reims.

In the end it came down, predictably, to a showdown between the big guns. A good leadout from Mark Renshaw put Cavendish in a great position but the long and cagey run-in meant that both Hushovd and Cavendish had run out of men by the finish straight. The Manxman simply didn't have the legs for the long game and Petacchi came over him to take a superb stage win, with a battered Julian Dean taking second and Edvald Boasson-Hagen third.

Top 20 Tour de France 2010 Stage 4

1.  PETACCHI Alessandro   LAMPRE - FARNESE
2.  DEAN Julian           GARMIN - TRANSITIONS          + 00' 00"
3.  BOASSON Edvald Hagen  SKY PRO CYCLING               + 00' 00"
4.  MC EWEN Robbie        TEAM KATUSHA                  + 00' 00"
5.  HUNTER Robert         GARMIN - TRANSITIONS          + 00' 00"
6.  TURGOT Sébastien      BBOX BOUYGUES TELECOM         + 00' 00"
7.  ROJAS Jose Joaquin    CAISSE D’EPARGNE              + 00' 00"
8.  OSS Daniel            LIQUIGAS-DOIMO                + 00' 00"
9.  HUSHOVD Thor          CERVELO TEST TEAM             + 00' 00"
10. FREIRE Oscar          RABOBANK                      + 00' 00"
11. CIOLEK Gerald         TEAM MILRAM                   + 00' 00"
12. CAVENDISH Mark        TEAM HTC - COLUMBIA           + 00' 00"
13. BOOKWALTER Brent      BMC RACING TEAM               + 00' 00"
14. SANCHEZ Samuel        EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI           + 00' 00"
15. KIRYIENKA Vasil       CAISSE D’EPARGNE              + 00' 00"
16. EVANS Cadel           BMC RACING TEAM               + 00' 00"
17. CASAR Sandy           FDJ                           + 00' 00"
18. LÖVKVIST Thomas       SKY PRO CYCLING               + 00' 00"
19. THOMAS Geraint        SKY PRO CYCLING               + 00' 00"
20. BARREDO Carlos        QUICK STEP                        + 00' 

Top 20 on General Classification after stage 4

1.  CANCELLARA Fabian      TEAM SAXO BANK            18h 28' 55"
2.  THOMAS Geraint         SKY PRO CYCLING             + 00' 23"
3.  EVANS Cadel            BMC RACING TEAM             + 00' 39"
4.  HESJEDAL Ryder         GARMIN - TRANSITIONS        + 00' 46"
5.  CHAVANEL Sylvain       QUICK STEP                  + 01' 01"
6.  SCHLECK Andy           TEAM SAXO BANK              + 01' 09"
7.  HUSHOVD Thor           CERVELO TEST TEAM           + 01' 19"
8.  VINOKOUROV Alexandre   ASTANA                      + 01' 31"
9.  CONTADOR Alberto       ASTANA                      + 01' 40"
10. VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen  OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO        + 01' 42"
11. ROCHE Nicolas          AG2R LA MONDIALE            + 01' 42"
12. VAN SUMMEREN Johan     GARMIN - TRANSITIONS        + 01' 47"
13. MENCHOV Denis          RABOBANK                    + 01' 49"
14. WIGGINS Bradley        SKY PRO CYCLING             + 01' 49"
15. MILLAR David           GARMIN - TRANSITIONS        + 02' 06"
16. KREUZIGER Roman        LIQUIGAS-DOIMO              + 02' 24"
17. SANCHEZ Luis-Leon      CAISSE D’EPARGNE            + 02' 25"
18. ARMSTRONG Lance        TEAM RADIOSHACK             + 02' 30"
19. LÖVKVIST Thomas        SKY PRO CYCLIN              + 02' 34"
20. ROJAS Jose Joaquin     CAISSE D’EPARGNE            + 02' 35"