Pettachi Prevails, Cavendish Disappoints
Wednesday’s fourth stage of the Tour de France saw riders face an easier route than any of the previous stages, with crashes kept to a minimum. Conditions were optimal for a sprint finish, and Italian rider Alessandro Pettachi pounced on the opportunity to win his second stage of this year’s Tour.
Pettachi, who rides for Italian team Lampre-Farnese Vini as of this season, finished ahead of New Zealand’s Julian Dean. In 3rd place was Norwegian Edvald Hagen Boasson, riding for British Team Sky.
Australian sprint specialist Robbie McEwen claimed the 4th place for his Russian Team Katusha, leaving him in 23rd place overall in what has been a successful return to the Tour for the veteran cyclist.
Overall favourite Alberto Contador finished 32nd and is now 9th in the overall standings. An outstanding climbing cyclist, Contador has successfully held a low profile in the early stages of the Tour, surely intending to make an impact when the riders begin their mountain climbs in Stage 6.
Overall leader Fabian Cancellara came in 25th place, meaning he will wear the yellow jersey in Stage 5 as well. Lance Armstrong remains in 18th place overall after being the 36th rider to cross the finish line in Reims.
Andy Schleck, the Swiss favourite who entered the stage at 5th place overall, was 58th in the stage, meaning his overall standing dropped to 6th place.
Veteran Pettachi was delighted to show that he had not collected his previous stage win in Brussels because his competition had crashed during the race. Faced with challenges from the best sprinters in the sport, Pettachi began his sprint 260 metres from the finish line and prevailed.
"I've come here to win stages and I've shown twice that I'm not here to make up the numbers,” the Italian told the press after the race.
"In the over 200 sprints I've done I've learned a thing or two. But today I have to say thanks to my team, they really anticipated things despite the fact they don't have a lot of experience trying to set up sprints."
Wednesday’s victory was Pettachi’s sixth stage win in the Tour, collecting four in 2003 and one on Monday.
Plenty of sprinters were supported by their teams to cap the stage off, among them was last year’s winner of six stages Mark Cavendish. Cavendish, who came close to claiming the points classification last year, will be disappointed with his display in Stage 4.
Cavendish's HTC-Columbia teammates had ridden flawlessly throughout the 153.5km long stage, but with only 200m to go, Cavendish seemed to stumble just as the other sprinters took off.
Six time-points classification winner Erik Zabel, who now supports Team HTC-Columbia in a consulting role, admitted that it was Cavendish’s finish that cast a cloud over their Stage 4 performance. “The team did a perfect job today,” said the German after the race. "The only thing we missed today was Cav's sprint legs from last year,” he added.
Despite their disappointing results in the opening stages, the U.S. team remains confident that Cavendish’s usually excellent sprinting will win them at least one stage of this year’s Tour.
The British sprinter Cavendish finished in 12th place in what could prove to be the decisive blow to his hopes of claiming the points classification in this year’s race.
Norwegian Thor Hushovd, an accomplished sprinter and winner of last year’s points classification, finished 9th in Wednesday’s stage. In 7th place overall and currently holding the green jersey, Hushovd looks like the rider to beat for this year’s points classification.
Judging from his two stage wins, though, Pettachi will be eager to challenge Hushovd in the coming stages.
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