Friday’s stage of the TDU was characterized by strong winds, high humidity and breakaways, but Andre Greipel, with the support of his squad, once again crossed the line first.

The day started with numerous attacks, but none held until the trio of Nicki Sorensen (CSC), Mathieu Perget (Caisse D’Epargene) and Simon Clarke (UniSA) broke the stranglehold and built a lead of 30 seconds by the first climb. However, Arkaitz Duran Daroca (Saunier Duval-Scott) made a bold move and was able to reach them shortly into the climb.

The lead group just barely held on to the top of the climb. Daroca took the KOM points, and  Perget got there second with Sorensen third.

On the fast descent, the peloton, which had already splintered on the climb, sucked up the lead group. The first peloton briefly built up a gap of over a minute over the rest of the field, but it was to early in the race, and the riders regrouped over the next 10 km.

There were more and more  attacks as the field headed towards the first of the day’s sprints.  Australians William Walker (Rabobank) and O’Grady were both active on the front. The field split in two and saw Allan Davis (UniSA) crossing the line to take the bonus seconds from Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Caisse D’Epargne) and Phillip Gilbert (Francaise des Jeux).

Jan Robert Forster (Gerolsteiner) took the second sprint over Mark Renshaw (Credit Agricole) and Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Caisse D’Epargne).

For the next 15 kilometers more attacks ensued, but again the main field was reluctant to let any go as the groups were too big and the field ultimately stayed together. 

Then, an attack by Javier Aramendia Lorenti (Euskaltel-Euskadi) caught the field napping. He quickly built up a two minute lead, and by the 100 km mark he was four minutes out. Back in the pack, Rabobank came to the front to help the Credit Agricole boys chase Lorenti. With the extra push in the peloton, Lorenti’s lead quickly fell to two minutes over the next 7 km.

With ten kilometers to the finish, it was time to the move the sprinters to the front of the field and Lorenti’s moment in the sun was over. CSC, Rabobank, UniSA and High road took helm for the final several kilometers.

In the turn before the final sprint, Elia Rigotto (Team Milram) head-butted Rabobank’s Matt Hayman. Hayman went down, losing a lot of skin and breaking his collarbone.

Greipel once again proved too strong for the others taking his second stage.

After the race, Rigotto was disqualified and fined 200 Swiss Francs UCI Article 10.1 for “deviating from selected lane endangering other riders”.

Results

1 Andre Greipel (Ger) Team High Road                                    3.14.46 (41.280 km/h) 2 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Credit Agricole                                            3 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse D'Epargne                                 4 Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) Team Csc                                            5 Denis Flahaut (Fra) Saunier Duval-Scott

General Classification after Stage 4   1 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Credit Agricole                                   13.28.38 2 Andre Greipel (Ger) Team High Road                                       0.04 3 Allan Davis (Aus) Unisa - Australia                                      0.07 4 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse D'Epargne                            0.14 5 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank