Luis Leon Sanchez secured his second consecutive victory at the Tour De Romandie 2012 and takes over the overall classifications lead
Luis Leon Sanchez turned the tables around during the 184 kilometre stage 4 of the Tour De Romandie on April 28th, 2012.
The cyclist was full of confidence after his stage 3 victory and was only 1 second behind the overall classifications leader Bradley Wiggins.
The Spaniard fired his legs during the fourth stage of the race and grabbed yet another victory at the Swiss event.
He finished the race in a fastest time of 4 hours, 56 minutes and 13 seconds to register his second victory at the Tour De Romandie.
Rinaldo Nocentini of Team AG2R La Mondiale finished second while Branislau Samoilau of Team Movistar, Gorka Verdugo of Team Euskaltel-Euskadi and Paolo Tiralongo of Team Astana occupied the third, the fourth and the fifth positions.
It was a mixed day of racing as Tejay Van Garderen of Team BMC was transported to the hospital after he collided with a tree.
The cyclist was lucky to have survived any major injuries and suffered no fractures as briefed by the team’s doctor, Max Testa Van.
"He's doing fine and feeling good, it’s just a soft tissue injury, but the cut was pretty deep. He'll have to take it easy for a few days", Van cited.
The American could not finish the race and might not continue for the final day of racing.
He was holding the 17th overall spot after the stage 3 classification with a deficit of 15 seconds over the previous leader, Bradley Wiggins.
Luis Sanchez was one second behind Wiggins after the third stage but has now built up a lead of 9 seconds on the Team Sky cyclist.
Michael Rogers is 16 seconds behind at the third spot while Bauke Mollema, Stef Clement, Andrew Talansky and Wilco Kelderman are holding the next four spots after the stage 4 classifications.
Both Wiggins and Sanchez are now eyeing the stage 5 of the race as it will decide the overall leader of the contest.
It will not be easy for Bradley to bridge the gap of 9 seconds during the smallest stage of the race, the 16.5 kilometre individual time trial.
Tags: