Key moments

Hushovd: Ahead Of The Rest

Thor Hushovd won his fifth stage of the Tour de France after receiving an ideal lead-out from Julian Dean. The New Zealand champion towed his Norwegian colleague up to the 250 meter to go mark and delivered him into an unbeatable position. It was a clean sprint without incident and it was the result of a pragmatic collaboration from all the sprinters’ teams who timed their capture of five escapees to perfection. Matthieu Sprick instigated a move at the 30km mark and was joined by four others including Sylvain Chavanel but they were caught five kilometers from the finish and the sprint specialists took charge. The victory moves Hushovd from ninth to second place in the general classification.

The 193km fourth stage of the 2007 Tour de France – from Viller-Cotteret to Joigny – began at 1.00pm. There were 187 riders at the sign on with no overnight retirements. The day included four cat-4 climbs, they were: Cote de Veuilly-la-Poterie (at 23.5km), the Cote de Doucy (at 62.5km), the Cote de Galbaux (at 144km) and the Cote de Bel-Air (at 148.5km). The three intermediate sprints were evenly dispersed throughout the stage: the first in La Ferte-Gaucher (at 69km) the next in Soligny-les-Bains (at 122.5km) and the final one in Theil-sur-Vanne (at 158.5km).

Zandio Crashes & Abandons
There were no early attacks in the stage. The first bout of action came at the first climb when three of the eight riders with points for the polka-dot jersey raced ahead of the peloton. The points at Veuilly-la-Poterie climb were won by Kuschynski (LIQ), Millar (SDV) and Auge (COF) 1pt. Di Gregorio (FDJ) and Zandio (GCE) crashed heavily; the Spaniard broke his right collarbone and abandoned the race while the Frenchman continued but received treatment from the race doctor numerous times during the stage.

Sprick Sparks Escape
Sprick (BTL) was the first to launch a serious attack. It happened at the 30.5km mark. He was chased by Verdugo (EUS), Flecha (RAB), Chavanel (FDJ) and, 3km later, by Knees (MRM). At the 40km mark, the advantage of the five escapees was 1’25”. The average speed for the first hour was 40.7km/h. At 48km the lead was 3’20” and then the peloton increased its pace to keep the escape within a reasonable distance. At 56km, the advantage had grown to 3’45”. Chavanel was the best-place on GC at the start of the day, 23rd overall, 56” behind Cancellara. At the 2nd climb the peloton was 4’00” behind ;his was the maximum gain of the escape. Liquigas came at the 62km mark and split the peloton. Flecha, Chavanel and Sprick took the sprint points at the 69km mark; CSC was back in charge of the bunch and had reduced the lead significantly to just 1’55”. The average speed for the 2nd hour was 40.7km/h.

CSC Defend Cancellara’s Lead
With 100km to go, the advantage was back to 3’45”. Flecha led Chavanel and Knees to the line for the second intermediate sprint. The average speed for the 3rd hour was 42.2km/h. The sprint teams – Predictor, Quickstep and Lampre – joined CSC at the head of the peloton with 70km to go and the lead diminished rapidly: 2’45” with 67km to go; 2’00” with 60km to go. At the third climb Chavanel led Knees and Flecha to the top. The peloton was at 1’40”. The order over the fourth climb was: Knees, Sprick and Chavanel… the peloton was 1’50” behind.
Flecha led Chavanel and Verdugo over the line for the first intermediate sprint. The peloton was just 1’35” behind. With 25km to go, the five led by 55”. Knees attacked with 24km to go he was reeled in and the five cooperated again and it wouldn’t be until 8km to go that there was another attack: the peloton was just 30” behind and Sprick tried his luck… it was a surge that lasted about 20 seconds and then he surrendered. The escape was over 4.8km from the finish.

Setting Up The Sprint
Quickstep and T-Mobile dominated the head of the peloton in the closing kilometers. It was Credit Agricole, however, that rode the perfect finale. Thor Hushovd calls Julian Dean "the best lead-out man in the world" and the New Zealander delivered the Norwegian to the 300m to go mark and that’s when Hushovd bolted into the lead. He was never truly challenged although Hunter (BAR) didn’t give in until the very end. It is Hushovd’s fifth victory in the Tour de France.
Fabian Cancellara finished 47th with the same time as Hushovd. The CSC rider will wear the yellow jersey for stage five.

Top of the page

Matthieu Sprick – “A day in the front is always good”

The instigator of The Escape of stage four, Matthieu Sprick was caught by the peloton with five kilometers remaining. He missed out on contesting the race for line honors but received the consolation prize: the votes for the most aggressive rider of the day.

“Sure, every young rider hopes to win a stage and I missed out, that’s frustrating but a day in the front is always good. The peloton never really allowed us to get a good lead but with good riders like Flecha and Chavanel also in the move it was worth a gamble. On one hand their presence was a bad thing, but on the other hand it’s a good thing because they’re so strong. At the finish I still held onto some hope that I could win that’s the game that you have to play. If there was a fall or a moment of hesitation from the peloton in its pursuit then it might have been possible to stay ahead.”

Stephane Auge “I have to be a realist…”

Stephane Auge kept his polka-dot jersey thanks to the gentlemanly approach of his team-mate Sylvain Chavanel who was in the big escape of stage four but didn’t contest the final climb in favor of allow his colleague to maintain his advantage in the climbing classification. Nonetheless Auge is realistic enough to say that he won’t defend his lead because he’d rather save his energy for the weeks that follow.

“My team did all it could to help me keep the polka-dot jesey. I’m most grateful to Sylvain Chavanel who didn’t contest the sprint for points on the last ascent; this allowed me to maintain my advantage in the climbing classification. That’s the sign that he’s a true champion, a real leader. Still the mountains are yet to come and I could keep my jersey if I’m part of another escape but it’s unlikely. I won’t try to defend my lead because I’m a realist. The Tour is three weeks long and I’d rather save my energy for what is yet to come.”

Tom Boonen - "Timing is everything..."

He has worn yellow and green in the first weeks of the last two Tours but victory eludes Tom Boonen still this year. In Joigny he explained that a corner in the final kilometer distracted him and caused him to lose time to Thor Hushovd who he admits was a deserving winner in stage four.

“We tried to do our best to stay in front but at one point we just couldn’t move up any more until there was a little hole that I jumped into. There was a corner at the 500 meters to go mark that wasn’t in the book – and that’s where I went wrong, I had to brake completely and get out of the saddle and start sprinting again to get in a good position.
“It was okay: it was the first sprint that didn’t really go well for us. It was very chaotic today and it was hard to find the right position.
“It was a nice win for Thor today. He was really impressive. You had to start sprinting at just the right time and that’s exactly what he did. Timing is everything in a nice sprint and he did a really good job today.”

Thor Hushovd -

The end of the fourth stage was perfectly scripted for the sprinters: there were no nasty surprises in the guise of crashes or powerful surges from the time trial world champion. And although bunch sprints always have an element of chaos, Thor Hushovd was delivered to the line with such class that he made his fifth victory in the Tour de France seem simple.

“It’s great for me to win again. I had a lot of problems at the start of the year and I felt that I started bad in the Tour de France as well. I had a crash and yesterday I messed it up but today everything went well; Julian Dean did an amazing job for me again and it worked really well after he finished his lead-out. When he has the power like he has today… well, it’s what I need to win and I’m sure that we’re going to continue. When Julian has the form like he has at the moment, he’s the best lead-out man in the world.
“He went from the 500 meter mark and I was protected until 200 meters to go and I just felt that it should be okay. It was an awesome lead-out and gave me time to sit up a bit before the line to raise my arms.
“Last year I ended the Tour by winning on the Champs-Elysees and that’s what I tried to think about when luck was against me. Today I’m back and I know I’m going to win more stages because my confidence is back.”

Top of the page