German neo pro takes his second stage of the race as a day-long break is neutralised in the final kilometres
John Degenkolb (HTC-Highroad) won the fourth stage of the Criteium du Dauphiné between La Motte-Servolex and Mâcon in a bunch sprint. The German neo-pro took his tally of the race to two, and that of his team to three, by outpacing Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) as they reached the line, with Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank-SunGard) taking third.
"Today was a very good day for me," Degenkolb said afterwards. "My positioning for the sprint wasn’t the best but I had enough punch to stay in the front and go for the big fight with Boasson Hagen.
"It’s not a big surprise for me that I beat riders like Boasson Hagen and Farrar," he added. "I’m sure that other times they’ll beat me. It’s really important to have the right motivation to beat some of the world’s best sprinters. It’s been my dream for a long time to wear the green jersey of the Tour de France and this race gives me the feeling of the Tour de France that I won’t ride this year."
With the flatter part of the race now over, the following three stages will head into the Alps, with summit finishes at Les Gets, Le Collet d'Allevard and La Toussuire.
"The next three days will be another story for me," said Degenkolb. "It’s going to be very hard and it’s not possible for me to take the green jersey of the Dauphiné home."
After the time trial of the previous day, the fourth stage offered the chance of a relatively easy time before three straight stages in the mountains. On paper, the 173.5km stage looked like one for the sprinters, but the relatively flat terrain also offered the chance for breakaways to hunt for glory.
Just as he did in stages one and two, Jérémy Roy (FDJ) attacked from the gun; this time the Frenchman got some company, in the form of Adriano Malori (Lampre-ISD) and the two of them set about making good their escape.
Both riders had ridden a good time trial in stage three, with Malori in twelfth and Roy in sixteenth; the Frenchman was the best placed on the overall standings though, in 33rd place, 5’09” behind race leader Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky).
After 7km, a crash in the peloton brought down a number of riders, including former race leader Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana), who now sits in fourth place. The resulting reorganisation worked in the favour of Roy and Malori and, as they crossed the top of the first climb of the day, the 2nd category Col du Chat after 13.5km, they led by 3’05”.
Team Sky had taken control of the peloton, on behalf of Wiggins, and was intent on allowing the two fugitives a little freedom. Leonardo Duque (Cofidis) mopped up the points at the top of the climb, clearly intent on taking the red and white polka-dot jersey from incumbent Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Omega Pharma-Lotto) who had held it since his stage one victory.
After 18km the duo led by 3’45” which, after a quickly resolved technical problem for Wiggins, crept out a little further; by the time they crossed the 4th category Côte de Peyzieu after 54km it had grown to 4’10”.
The gap was to top out at 4’25” after 56km, when Sky decided that enough was enough and began to close it down. There was clearly no intention on the British team’s part to do too much work though, and at the top of the 4th category Côte de Châtillon-la-Palud, after 109.5km, the two leaders were still 3’45” in front.
It was virtually flat all the way to the finish now though, making it a very tough task indeed for the duo to stay away.
With almost exactly 60km to go, Garmin-Cervélo moved forward to lend a hand to the chase. Just at that moment though, Wiggins suffered another technical problem, but his team calmly brought him back up to the peloton as the pace slackened a little. As a result, the gap to Roy and Malori went out to almost four minutes once more, but there was still plenty of time to pull them back.
Team Sky resumed its place at the head of the pack, but was now playing a secondary role to the Garmin-Cervélo and HTC-Highroad teams; both American teams were now hunting the stage victory for their sprinters Tyler Farrar and John Degenkolb.
With 50km to go Roy and Malori had four minutes advantage, but Garmin-Cervélo and HTC-Highroad soon began to make in-roads into the gap on the flat straight roads.
As the leading pair passed the 30km to go point, their lead had been whittled down to 2’48”; mostly through the efforts of Paris-Roubaix winner Johan Van Summeren (Garmin-Cervélo) and Jan Ghyselinck (HTC-Highroad). At this rate the peloton might find itself catching Roy and Malori too soon, opening itself to counterattacks in the closing kilometres.
The chasing teams clearly realised this and eased up ever so slightly, so that with 25km to go the gap was 2’25’. The pave may have just slowed a little too much though as, with 20km to go, the gap was still 2’10”. Using the calculation of closing a break by a minute for every 10km, the peloton now had a harder task ahead of it.
Garmin-Cervélo committed more men to the chase, with US time trial champion Dave Zabriskie taking some big turns on the front.
With 10km to go, with both Roy and Malori looking physically tired from their day’s efforts, the extra effort in the chase had reduced their lead to just 44 seconds.
Almost the entire Garmin-Cervélo team was strung out in front of the peloton by now, and only some slight meanderings of the road prevented them from having their quarry in sight.
As the roads began to widen on the way into Mâcon, Quick Step sent some men forward to work, just as BMC Racing was also moving forward.
With 5km to go Roy and Malori had just 16 seconds and were now well and truly in plain view of the peloton as they crossed the river Saône. There were now a number of teams battling for supremacy at the front of the peloton by now, including AG2R La Mondiale; a rider from FDJ was in there though, attempting to disrupt the chase.
Inside the final 3km the two of them were barely ahead of the peloton, but neither was willing to sit up. Just before 2km to go though, they were finally swept up by the Liquigas-Cannondale led peloton.
With the peloton all together HTC-Highroad and Garmin-Cervélo took their places at the front once more, with Lars Boom (Rabobank) lurking behind them. Into the final kilometre though, it was British champion Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) that led the long string at the front of the race on behalf of Boasson Hagen.
As the sprint began Boasson Hagen went first, and seemed to have timed his sprint well; Degenkolb was not to be held off though, and eased past the Norwegian to win the stage by half a length with Haedo in his wake.
With virtually the entire peloton finishing together there were no changes to the top of the overall classification. Wiggins holds on to his race lead by 1’11” over Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) and defending champion Janez Brajkovic (RadioShack), but can expect much tougher days to come as the race heads towards the Alps once more.