Orica-GreenEdge rider Michael Albisini stayed with the leaders over seven climbs, and still had the legs to beat them all in a sprint in Stage for of the 2013 Paris-Nice cycling race.
Garmin-Sharp’s Andrew Talansky kept himself close enough to the front to finish sixth, retaining his leader’s yellow jersey.
Stage Four was by far the toughest to date. The weather was better than in the miserably rainy Stage Three, but Stage Four included seven categorized climbs, four Cat 2s and three Cat 3s.
Despite the climbs, the stage ended in a bunch sprint, and Orica-Greenedge’s Michael Albasini had the best legs of the couple dozen riders in the lead group. Hard as it was, it didn’t create a selection; the top 20 riders are within 18 seconds of Talansky.
Three riders attacked early in the stage, joined by four more: Thomas Voeckler (Europcar,) Gianni Meersman (Omega,) and Johann Tschopp (I AM Cycling) went first but were sooned joined by Hubert Dupont (AG2R,) Romain Sicard (Euskaltel,) Michael Morkov (Saxo Bank,) and Warren Barguil (Argos-Shimano.)
This group never got the gap over three minutes; Garmin-Sharp, with help from Astana, kept the breakaway on a tight leash. BMC joined the effort as the breakaway reached the second-to-last ascent, cutting the gap to under a minute.
BMC kept raising the pace, catching the escapees fifteen kilometers from the end of the stage. The peloton split because of the pace; Cannondale’s Ivan Basso fell off as well.
BMC led the way up the final hill with Sky, Astana, Lampre Merida, and Omega Pharma all represented up front. Talansky had no help, but was riding strongly.
RadioShack’s Maxime Monfort was first to attack, with nine km left in the stage. He was shut down quickly; then Omega’s Sylvain Chavanel had a couple of goes, the second tiem Saxo Bank’s Nicholas Roche and Astana’s Maxim Iglinsky.
Liuwe Westra was next to take a shot, setting off alone on the descent; Chavanel took off in chase. This woke up Andrew Talansky—he led the pursuit, joined by BMC’s Tejay Van Garderen.
Westra pushed too hard; he locked up his rear wheel and had to bail out down an escape road to keep from crashing. The leaders swept by while Westra wheeled back to the main road and took off in pursuit, but the Vacansoleil rider was out of contention for the day.
Chavanel, Sojasun’s Jerôme Kopppel, Katusha’s Simon Spilak, and Robert Gesink of Blanco (formerly Rabobank) made attempts in the final five kilometers but no one could maintain a gap.
Astana’s Maxim Iglinsky started his sprint half a kilometer out—much too early it turned out. Michael Albasini waited until 200 meters and powered away from the pack. Iglinsky held on for second, with Omega’s Peter Velits third.
Andrew Talansky holds the yellow jersey by three seconds over Astana’s Andriy Grivko and four seconds over Omega riders Peter Velits and Sylvain Chavanel. The rest of the top ten are within 15 seconds of the leader.
Stage Five will be another climbing stage, with six categorized climbs and a mountaintop finish. This could be a decisive stage, at least in eliminating contenders. Equally, the whole race could come down to the final time trial with a dozen riders having an equal shot at the General Classification win.
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| 2013 Paris-Nice Stage Four | |||
| rider | team | time | |
| 1 | Michael Albasini | Orica GreenEdge | 4:55:41 |
| 2 | Maxim Iglinskiy | Astana |
|
| 3 | Peter Velits | Omega Pharma-Quick-Step |
|
| 4 | Enrico Gasparotto | Astana |
|
| 5 | Diego Ulissi | Lampre-Merida |
|
| 6 | Andrew Talansky | Garmin Sharp |
|
| 7 | Romain Bardet | AG2R |
|
| 8 | Jens Keukeleire | Orica GreenEdge |
|
| 9 | Andreas Klöden | RadioShack Leopard |
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| 10 | Xavier Florencio | Katusha |
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| General Classification after Stage Four | |||
| rider | team | time | |
| 1 | Andrew Talansky | Garmin Sharp | 19:35:17 |
| 2 | Andriy Grivko | Astana | 0:00:03 |
| 3 | Peter Velits | Omega Pharma-Quick-Step | 0:00:04 |
| 4 | Sylvain Chavanel | Omega Pharma-Quick |
|
| 5 | Gorka Izaguirre | Euskaltel-Euskadi | 0:00:05 |
| 6 | Lieuwe Westra | Vacansoleil-DCM | 0:00:06 |
| 7 | Richie Porte | Sky | 0:00:07 |
| 8 | Maxim Iglinskiy | Astana | 0:00:13 |
| 9 | Jean-Christophe Peraud | AG2R |
|
| 10 | Bart De Clercq | Lotto Belisol | 0:00:15 |
