Live CoveragePresented by 
Tour de France 2012 stage 4
Live team coverage of stage 4 at the 99th edition of the Tour de France
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Argos-Shimano sprinter Marcel Kittel, still battling a stomach virus, said before the start that he was still taking things day-by-day. Stage 4 was one of his targets coming into his first Tour, but the German is not well. He fell out of contention early on Monday.
-
Green jersey Peter Sagan said that he's very happy, but also addressed his victory salute on Tuesday:
"I need to say thank you to all of my teammates. I want this green jersey on to the finish, all the way to Paris.
"[It was] Forrest Gump, it was for fun... No, I don't want to be arrogant, but I want to do some show for the public." -
-
-
An excerpt from our stage preview: So look for the stronger, better organized teams to get their men to the finish line in the hometown of Jacques Anquetil. Mark Cavendish (Sky) and Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannnondale) should be there to battle it out again, and watch out for Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge), who is now coached by Robbie McEwen and is determined to get a win of his own at the Tour.
Abbeville has never previously welcomed the peloton of the Tour de France. but regularly hosts the Tour de la Somme. In 2005, Lars Boom, a young Dutch cyclocross world champ-turned-roadie, achieved one of his first road victories there.
Normandy has become a regular stage of the Tour de France since 1949, and the city of Rouen has long been associated with Jacques Anquetil. For his maiden Tour in 1957, France’s favorite son won his first half stage at his hometown. Three weeks later, he finished his first Tour de France wearing the yellow jersey.
Read more here: velonews.competitor.com -
-
-
-
And our GC picture changed a little bit yesterday on the Opal Coast. Here's the top 10:
1. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, in 14:45:30
2. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at :7
3. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :7
4. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at :10
5. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, Sky, at :11
6. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at :13
7. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at :17
8. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :18
9. Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Sharp, at :18
10. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at :19 -
Garmin-Sharp took the biggest hit in the GC race, with Tom Danielson separating his shoulder and finishing more than nine minutes down, and Christian Vande Velde losing a couple of minutes. The team's DS Allan Peiper told us this morning that the American squad had lost its Plan B: velonews.competitor.com
-
-
Good morning, Jon. Not that we're aware of. Bjarne Riis did say he would hop on a bike and chase Morkov down himself if he went on the attack today. velonews.competitor.com
-
Hello, Ryan Newill. If you missed it earlier this week, Mr. Newill filed this great commentary on the lessons he learned in the Tour's opening weekend: velonews.competitor.com
-
-
-
-
-
-
There are many reasons, Brian. First, the teams that aren't going to contend in a bunch finish or any of the race's classifications will try to load the break to get their sponsors on TV. There's also the tactical move of putting a rider up front to take the responsibility to work off the team's shoulders. And this is bike racing; you never know what might happen at a train crossing or some other obstacle — maybe, just maybe, there's a shred of opportunity actually get the win.
-
-
Dan, you wrote an interesting blog a couple of days ago about Cancellara's tactical shorfalls and his need to take a cue from Cavendish's heads-up sprint in stage 2. Do you think the Manxman will get another one today in Rouen? He'd join some of the sport's greatest sprinters as a winner here.
-
-
-
-
-
-
Good morning, Austin. Danielson did start today, though he suffered a separated shoulder on Tuesday. Our man Andrew Hood talked with Garmin DS Allan Peiper this morning about "Black Tuesday" for Garmin: velonews.competitor.com
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
