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Estonian Jaan Kirsipuu (AG2R) won the sprint for the 4th stage of Etoile de Bessèges in Laudun. The 146.5 km stage between Alès and Laudun, came down to a sprint finish with Kirsipuu finishing in front of Australian Robbie McEwen (Lotto) and the Norwegian Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole). With his second placing McEwen regained the overall leaders jersey with a two second lead over Italian Andrea Ferrigato (Alessio).
The stage was dominated by a series of attacks, all of which were reeled in by the peloton. The attacks were thwarted by the fast race pace and the tactics of Alessio who were trying to protect the lead of Andrea Ferrigato.
At the 18 km mark Stéphane Berges, Cesar Solaun and Jean-Michel Tessier attempted to jump away however were quickly caught. The next significant move came at the 50 kn mark with Stuart O' Grady, Kevin Livingstone, Frederic Mainguenaud, Ludovic Turpin and Paul Van Hyfte taking their chances. Again the peloton regrouped and shut down the attack.
The 67 km point saw the day's most successful break with, Olivier Trastour (AG2R), Fabrice Salanson (Bonjour) and Kurt Asle Arvesen (Fakta) at one point holding a 6 minute lead from the main group. Trastour, Salanson and Arvesen managed to keep the peloton at bay till the 138 km point where the Euskaltel and Lotto lead peloton reclaimed them.
From there it was a simple sprint for Kirsipuu to pick up the win. Well as simple as is any sprint involving McEwen and co. For Kirsipuu it was a reversal of the races first stage when McEwen had picked up the win.
With Robbie McEwen regaining the overall lead he is confirming his outstanding early season form following on from winning the Australian road championship and four stages of the Tour Down Under.
1 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) Ag2r Prévoyance 3.20.19 (43.73 km/h) 2 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Adecco 3 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 4 Marcus Ljunqvist (Swe) Team fakta 5 Endrio Leoni (Ita) Alessio 6 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Team Coast 7 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Crédit Agricole 8 Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Alessio 9 Lars Michaelsen (Den) Team Coast 10 Alberto Ongarato (Ita) De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa 11 Nico Mattan (Bel) Cofidis 12 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Team Telekom 13 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) La Française des Jeux 14 Steven Van Malderghem (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 15 François Simon (Fra) Bonjour 16 Bruno Thibout (Fra) Jean Delatour 17 Frédéric Guesdon (Fra) La Française des Jeux 18 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Jean Delatour 0.05 19 Oscar Cavagnis (Swi) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 20 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Bonjour 21 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) Jean Delatour 22 Igor Kranjec (Slo) De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa 23 Josu Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 24 James Vanlandshoot (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 25 Bekim Christensen (Den) Team Coast 26 Paul Van Hyfte (Bel) CSC-Tiscali 27 Chris Peers (Bel) Cofidis 28 Jo Planckaert (Bel) Cofidis 29 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis 30 Robert Sassone (Fra) Cofidis 31 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 32 Sébastien Talabardon (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93 33 Allan Johansen (Den) Team fakta 34 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 35 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Team fakta 36 Manu L'hoir (Bel) Team fakta 37 Jurgen Vermeersch (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 38 Tom Flammang (Lux) Cofidis 39 Jean-Michel Tessier (Fra) Cofidis 40 Médéric Clain (Fra) Cofidis 41 Ruslan Ivanov (Mda) Alessio 42 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Crédit Agricole 43 Stefan Schreck (Ger) Team Telekom 44 Bart Leysen (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 45 Christopher Jenner (NZl) Crédit Agricole 46 Alexei Sivakov (Rus) Big Mat-Auber 93 47 Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 48 Roman Peter (Swi) Oktos-St-Quentin 49 Guillaume Auger (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93 50 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita) De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa 51 Raphaël Jeune (Fra) CSC-Tiscali 52 Ondrej Fadrny (Cze) De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa 53 Ralf Grabsch (Ger) Team Telekom 54 Andrus Aug (Est) De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa 55 Stefan Adamsson (Swe) Team Coast 56 Thierry Gouvenou (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93 57 Michael Skelde (Den) Team fakta 58 Rolf Huser (Swi) Team Coast 59 Bert Roesems (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 60 Thomas Brun Eriksen (Den) CSC-Tiscali 61 Christophe Laurent (Fra) Jean Delatour 62 Vincent Bader (Swi) Oktos-St-Quentin 63 Ludovic Auger (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93 64 Bobby Julich (USA) Team Telekom 65 Franck Pencole (Fra) La Française des Jeux 66 Vincent Templier (Fra) Oktos-St-Quentin 67 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) CSC-Tiscali 68 Didier Rous (Fra) Bonjour 69 Pascal Derame (Fra) Bonjour 70 Jonathan Vaughters (USA) Crédit Agricole 71 Gilles Bouvard (Fra) Jean Delatour 72 Anthony Morin (Fra) Crédit Agricole 73 Jurgen Vandewalle (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 74 Marc Streel (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 75 Mauro Gianetti (Swi) Team Coast 76 Anthony Langella (Fra) Crédit Agricole 77 Roberto Lochowski (Ger) Team fakta 78 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 79 Carlos Da Cruz (Fra) La Française des Jeux 80 Christophe Capelle (Bel) Big Mat-Auber 93 81 Olivier Trastour (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance 82 Frédéric Mainguenaud (Fra) Bonjour 83 Michel Vanhaecke (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 84 Alexandre Chouffe (Fra) Oktos-St-Quentin 85 Bert Dewaele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 86 Kristof Trouve (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 87 Davide Casarotto (Ita) Alessio 88 Stéphane Berges (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance 89 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 90 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Lotto-Adecco 91 Ruslan Pidgorny (Ukr) De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa 92 Andrea Brognara (Ita) Alessio 93 Alberto Vinale (Ita) Alessio 94 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance 95 Régis Lhuillier (Fra) La Française des Jeux 96 Martin Hvastija (Slo) Alessio 97 Kris Gerits (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 98 Geoffrey Demeyere (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 99 Alberto Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 100 Franck Perque (Fra) La Française des Jeux 101 Udo Bolts (Ger) Team Telekom 102 Andrei Tchmil (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 103 Aitor Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 104 Erwin Thijs (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 105 Lander Euba (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 106 Glenn D'hollander (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 107 Jehudi Schoonacker (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 108 Rossano Brasi (Ita) De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa 109 ? 110 Cesar Solaun (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 111 Geert Omloop (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 112 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom 113 Martin Przadnovsky De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa 114 Bjarke Nielsen (Den) CSC-Tiscali 115 Nicolas Fritsch (Fra) La Française des Jeux 116 Serguei Yakovlev (Kaz) Team Telekom 117 Arturas Kasputis (Ltu) Ag2r Prévoyance 118 Kurt Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team fakta 119 Laurent Paumier (Fra) Oktos-St-Quentin 120 Damien Nazon (Fra) Bonjour 121 Stefan Van Dyck (Ned) Lotto-Adecco 122 Frack Bouyer (Fra) Bonjour 123 Ludovic Capelle (Bel) Ag2r Prévoyance 124 Jimmy Casper (Fra) La Française des Jeux 125 Fabrice Salanson (Fra) Bonjour 126 Kevin Livingston (USA) Team Telekom 127 Stefano Casagranda (Ita) Alessio 128 Niki Aebersold (Swi) Team Coast 129 Stéphane Auge (Fra) Jean Delatour 130 Florent Brard (Fra) Crédit Agricole 131 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) Jean Delatour 132 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 133 Sébastien Demarbaix (Bel) Ag2r Prévoyance 134 Sergey Krushevskiy (Rus) Oktos-St-Quentin 135 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) Big Mat-Auber 93 136 Raphaël Schweda (Ger) Team Coast 137 Gorka Arrizabalaga (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 9.02 138 Mikel Artexte (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 16.37 139 Alberto Lopez De Munain (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi DNF Stijn Devolder (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim DNS Yuriy Metluschenko (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago General classification after stage 4 1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Adecco 13.27.05 2 Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Alessio 0.02 3 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 0.14 4 Frédéric Guesdon (Fra) La Française des Jeux 0.24 5 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 0.25 6 Marcus Ljunqvist (Swe) Team fakta 7 Lars Michaelsen (Den) Team Coast 0.27 8 Nico Mattan (Bel) Cofidis 0.29 9 Bruno Thibout (Fra) Jean Delatour 10 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) La Française des Jeux 11 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Bonjour 0.30 12 Jurgen Vermeersch (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 13 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Crédit Agricole 0.32 14 Chris Peers (Bel) Cofidis 0.34 15 Igor Kranjec (Slo) De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa 16 Sébastien Talabardon (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93 17 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 18 Paul Van Hyfte (Bel) CSC-Tiscali 19 Stefan Schreck (Ger) Team Telekom 20 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) CSC-Tiscali 21 Bekim Christensen (Den) Team Coast 22 Manu L'hoir (Bel) Team fakta 23 Ruslan Ivanov (Mda) Alessio 24 Allan Johansen (Den) Team fakta 25 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Team fakta 0.57 26 Olivier Trastour (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance 1.06 27 Médéric Clain (Fra) Cofidis 1.10 28 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) Jean Delatour 3.13 29 Guillaume Auger (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93 30 Stéphane Berges (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance Courtesy of velomania.net