Oscar Freire (Rabobank) opened his 2011 account with victory in the fourth stage of the Vuelta a Andalucia/Ruta Del Sol between La Guardia de Caen and Cordoba. After mistiming his sprint on the previous stage, the three-time World champion got it just right to beat stage 1 time trial winner Jimmy Engoulvert (Saur-Sojasun) into second place, with Aitor Galdos taking his best result of the year so far in third.
"I am already in shape, but the last few days have not been entirely free from minor mistakes," said Freire. “It’s a victory for the team; the team today was perfect, I almost couldn’t lose.”
The first break of the day was made by Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek), and the Tour de France runner-up was soon joined by local rider Javi Moreno (Caja Rural). The two of them managed to build a led of 55 seconds by the 20km mark, which continued to grow.
After 30km Adrian Palomares (Andalucía-Caja Granada) and Héctor González (KTM-Murcia) escaped the peloton in pursuit of the leading duo. The four riders got together after 40km, and with the peloton refusing to respond their lead had grown to 6 minutes.
After 90km the peloton finally woke up, with the RadioShack team out to protect the race lead of Markel Irizar, and the lead began to fall. By the 100km point, with 74km still to race, the quartet’s advantage had fallen to 5’15” and then began to come down more rapidly.
With 20km to go the leaders still held a lead of 1’30” over the peloton but, with the Rabobank, Saur-Sojasun and Vacansoleil-DCM teams determined to deliver the victory to their sprinters, they had no chance of staying away and were caught with 15km to go.
Once his team leader Schelck had been caught, Leopard Trek’s Jens Voigt immediately tried his luck on a solo break. With Movistar adding its men to the chase though, the German had no real chance of staying clear and was caught by the peloton with 6km to go.
A crash marred the final sprint but Freire managed to avoid it and “Oscarito” took his first win of 2011 ahead of Engoulvent and Galdos.
Result stage 4
1. Oscar Freire (Spa) Rabobank
2. Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Saur-Sojasun
3. Aitor Galdos (Spa) Caja Rural
4. Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM
5. Robert Hunter (RSA) RadioShack
6. Davide Appollonio (Ita) Team Sky
7. Yukihiro Doi (Jap) Skil-Shimano
8. Jon Aberasturi (Spa) Orbea
9. Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky
10. Mirko Selvaggi (Ita) Vacansoleil
Standings after stage 4
1. Markel Irizar (Spa) RadioShack
2. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) OmegaPharma-Lotto @ 1s
3. Levi Leipheimer (USA) RadioShack @ 2s
4. Jérôme Coppel (Fra) Saur-Sojasun @ 3s
5. Luis Pasamontes (Spa) Movistar @ 8s