Danilo Hondo sprinted to victory in the fourth stage of the Giro di Sardegna, ahead of Giovanni Visconti and Sacha Modolo. The finishing sprint was overshadowed by the crash of Hondo's teammate, Alessandro Petacchi, and a few others, caused by a spectator. Nobody sustained serious injuries. Roman Kreuziger still leads the overall.
With less than a 150m left in a fast stage, several riders went down: Petacchi, Fabio Sabatini, Oscar Gatto and Daniele Colli.
Petacchi was relieved that nothing major happened. "I didn't suffer any fractures, just the normal contusions and bruises. If nothing changes during the night, I'll be lining up with victory on my mind tomorrow."
"Fortunately the finish was slightly uphill and the speed wasn't too high, probably around 50 km/h," former pro Silvio Martinello told tuttobiciweb. "Otherwise the consequences could have been a lot worse."
For Colli, the slower speed was still too high. "I don't remember anything because it all happened so fast. In a blink of an eye I found myself down on the ground."
The crash was caused by an enthusiastic spectator, who was cheering the riders on. Petacchi sprinted near the left barriers, unable to avoid the arms of the celebrating tifoso.
The race started fast, with an average speed of over 48km/h in the first hour. Six riders went away: Pavel Brutt (Team Katusha), Alberto Contoli and Alan Marangoni (Colnago – CSF Inox), Giairo Ermeti (De Rosa – Stac Plastic), Luca Celli (Ceramica Flaminia) and Stafano Usai (Maridiana Kamen Team). The gap reached a maximum of 3'30, which was good enough for the break to last until km 148.
Liquigas–Doimo and Lampre–Farnese Vini controlled to field and Lampre did take the win, albeit through the lead-out man.
Kreuziger still has four seconds over Chris Horner and six seconds over Thomas Voeckler in the overall. Tomorrow's final and flat 140km stage is unlikely to change that.
Results - 181,5 km
1. Danilo Hondo (Lampre – Farnese Vini) 4h25'01” - average 41,092 km/h
2. Giovanni Visconti (Isd – Neri)
3. Sacha Modolo (Colnago – Csf Inox)
4. Massimo Giunti (Androni – Diquigiovanni)
5. Ivan Rovny (Team Radioshack)
6. Serguei Klimov (Team Katusha)
7. Aitor Perez (Footon – Servetto)
8. Fabio Taborre (Androni – Diquigiovanni)
9. Fabio Felline (Footon – Servetto)
10. Damiano Caruso (De Rosa – Stac Plastic)
General classification after stage four
1. Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas – Doimo)
2. Christopher Horner (Team Radioshak) at 4”
3. Thomas Voeckler (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) at 6”
4. Damiano Caruso (De Rosa – Stac Plastic) at 10”
5. Janez Brajkovic (Team Radioshack) at 10”