Alexey Tsatevitch wins fourth stage as Niels Albert extend overall lead in Tour Alsace 2011
Itera – Katusha team’s Alexey Tsatevitch won the fourth stage of Tour Alsace 2011 on Saturday, July 30. Niels Albert maintained his overall leader’s yellow jersey.
The race started in lllzach and ended in Mulhouse. The 22-year-old Russian professional cyclists took the total of 4 hours, 2 minutes and 32 seconds to cover the distance of 169.9 kilometres.
A total of 91 riders crossed the finish line with the same timing of sprinter while Pierre-Luc Perichon (S.C.O. Dijon – Lapierre) unable to hold his pace and grabbed 92nd place with the difference of 34 seconds ahead of Oscar Riesebeek (Rabobank
Continental Team) and Marius Jessenberger (Team Heizomat).
Alexandre Blain of Endura Racing was runner-up and Stefan Schafer of LKT Team Brandenburg was in third place with the same timing of Russian.
With 33 kilometres remaining, the group of three cyclists made their first breakaway including Benoit Jarrier (Veranda Rideau Sarthe), Stijn Steels (Jong Vlaanderen – Bauknecht) and Nico Schneider (Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de) and all of them managed
to get an advantage of few seconds over the other cyclists.
Stijn Steels launched an attack but failed and Jarrier took the first sprint. After 147 kilometres, Arnaud Demare increased his pace and gained a lead in the second sprint.
In the final sprint Sebastien Harbonnier took the points ahead of Anthony Vignes. However, Harbonnier took the overall sprint ahead of Breen.
In the first mountain category the four cyclists including Remco Broers, Anthony Vignes, Pierre Bonnet and Sebastien Harbonnier took part and gained a lead while Broers gained maximum points in the first three climbs of the stage. However, Clement Koretzky
took the overall KOM of the day.
Dimitri Le Boulch (Big Mat - Auber 93) took the title of Best Young Rider ahead of Koretzky and Stake Laengen. Niels Albert secured overall standing with the timing of 14 hours, 22 minutes and 38 seconds while Jean-Marc Bideau was runner-up with 8 seconds
behind Belgium.
Dimitri Le Boulch (Big Mat - Auber 93) was in third place with the difference of 10 seconds ahead of Stian Remme.
The next stage will start in Ribeauville and ended in Ballon d'Alsace. All the cyclists will cover the distance of 156.6 kilometres.
Tags: