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Stage 4 - October 21: Borroloola - Robinson River, 110 km
By Christi Valentine - Anderson
One for the pros!!!
The Dream Team leader Alberto Elli has begun his assault on this grueling epic. From the first pedal stroke, Elli was instigating the race. He clearly pushed the pace to an uncomfortable level early on, taking only Hansen and the the Austrian with him.
Hansen sat on Elli for the entire stage and in the end came second to the gung-ho Italian. The sprint was nothing short of spectacular too, with the three front runners hitting the waters of Robinson River at 40kph. Hansen and Elli rode half the river through two feet of water over big stones then jumped off and ran. There was a 20 metre climb to the finish in the sand. Elli won by a half a metre with his bike nearly over his head. There was not one second of roll for the top three on this 108km stage. This could be a preview of what is yet to come over the next 10 days.
The Dream Team's American, Lars - Erik Johnson, and Belgian Perry Moerman have restarted the race, as the organizers have allowed a restart for a few. Therefore the Dream Team still has three riders in contention for the general classification as well as stage wins.
Deho and Van de Walle are going to throw a leg over tomorrow to prepare for stage wins and assist Elli in his quest for the overall victory.
Camping was less than a star with sand and flies the best feature, but the waters of the Robinson River do host crocodiles, so there were a few explorers enjoying the search. Oddly enough, the temperatures dropped from 40 in the day to around 8 degrees at night... many were caught out with not enough bedding.
