54th Tour de la Guadeloupe - 2.6

Guadeloupe, August 6-15, 2004

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Stage 4 - August 10: Sainte-Anne - Vieux-Habitants, 132,3 km

Torres takes first day in the mountains

By Hedwig Kröner in Vieux-Habitants

Martin Saint-Laurent, looking nervous
Photo ©: Hedwig Kröner

Welcome to this Tour's first mountain stage. It began as quickly as usual, with a first break leaving the bunch almost immediately. Organised around Miguel Ubeto (EDS), Régis Maréchaux (LOFT/UVN), Luis Castañeda (Euro Mutuelle UCC), Cory Lange (Canada) and Paul Torres (Venezuela), this group of 13 riders had already a 3' lead at km 30, almost flying as the peloton did launch some counter-attacks, without success.

The first of three 1st category climbs was reached by km 75, and its first part of about 15 % on one and a half kilometres exploded the peloton. Torres in the front group went out on his own and took the mountain jersey points at the top. During the descent, Régis Maréchaux crashed but got back on his bike. Cory Lange was still fifth on the second mountain.

No luck today for the yellow jersey, Martin Saint-Laurent, who had already punctured earlier and then crashed on the next descent. The last climb saw a new chase group with Castañeda, Peña Peña and Nicolas Dumont (SMRDA) trying to close in on the front man Torres, who already had a several minute lead. A series of very steep, 100-metres-“walls” made the finish no less demanding, and with a tropical rainfall on the last kilometres, Torres' victory was very impressive. He crossed the line 4'13 before the eight chasers, five of whom were Colombian or Venezuelan.

Photography

Images by Hedwig Kröner

Martin Saint-Laurent, the Yellow jersey at start
A rastaman pondering the meaning of it all
The yellow jersey on its way back to the pack, after puncturing at km 48
Up and down it went, but it only got much worse
The roads were packed with spectators, as they have been every day
the crowd does think about the rider's needs. There's always a lot of water.

Results

1 Paul Torres (Ven) Venezuela*               2.54.36
2 Javier Guerero Gonzalez (Col) Excelsior       4.13
3 Miguel Ubeto (Ven) EDS                            
4 Flober Pena Pena (Col) LOFT                       
5 Nicolas Dumont (Fra) SM-RDA                   4.15
6 Luis Castaneda (Col) UCC                          
7 Alexandre Lecoq (Gua) UVMG                        
8 Carlos Ochoa (Ven) Venezuela                  4.19
9 Yvan Boss (Gua) ASBM                          4.51
10 Stéphane Bellicaud (Fra) France Métropole    6.17
11 Laury Bedard-Remilien (Gua) Orange               
12 Christophe Cospar (Gua) Orange                   
13 Frédéric Theobald (Gua) ASBM                     
14 Régis Marechaux (Gua) LOFT                       
15 Pierre Theophile (Gua) JCA                       
 
General classification after stage 4
 
1 Paul Torres (Ven) Venezuela*              13.37.11
2 Alexandre Lecoq (Gua) UVMG                    2.30
3 Flober Pena Pena (Col) LOFT                   3.35
4 Miguel Ubeto (Ven) EDS                        3.42
5 Carlos Ochoa (Ven) Venezuela                  4.17
6 Paul Linares (Ven) Venezuela                  4.48
7 Christophe Cospar (Gua) Orange                5.16
8 Nicolas Dumont (Fra) SM-RDA                   5.31
9 Luis Castaneda (Col) UCC                      5.38
10 Daniel Bernal (Col) USL                      5.45
11 Javier Guerero Gonzalez (Col) Excelsior      5.51
12 Stéphane Bellicaud (Fra) France Métropole    6.03
13 Régis Marechaux (Gua) LOFT                   6.04
14 Andréas Muller (Ger) Germany                     
15 Yvan Boss (Gua) ASBM                         6.09

*Paul Torres was later excluded from the race along 
with the Venezuelan team for allegedly trying to 
smuggle illegal performance enhancing drugs into the 
country. The stage win was awarded to Javier Guerero
(Exelsior) while Alexandre Lecoq (UVMG) was awarded the
yellow jersey.