Aussie Cadel Evans conquers both Mont Ventoux and the fourth stage of the Paris-Nice as the race finally sees some of the promised sunshine.

The day started with an early breakaway at the 11km mark. Four riders went off: Jens Voigt (CSC), Niki Tersptra (Milram), Aleksandr Kuchinsky (Liquigas) and Bernhard Eisel (High Road). The peloton was in no mood to chase, but race leader Sylvain Chavenel’s Cofidis team stayed to at front to set the pace. 

Unlike some of the breakaways earlier in the week, the biggest gap the 4 men achieved was a bit over 7 minutes at the 81km mark. Robert Gesink and the Rabobank came to the front of the pack to help chase, hoping to position Gesink for the climb up Mont Ventoux.

Voigt made a move at the bottom of Mont Ventoux, going off the front of the break. Voigt went solo in the front. Back in the peloton, the Gerolsteiner and Quick Step teams were stepping up the pace to put pressure on Voigt. 

Chavanel got dropped 7km before the top of the climb. Team-mate Maxime Monfort worked to bring him back, but it was too little too late.

With a little over 5km to go, Robert Gesink (Rabobank) surged in the front of the chasing group. The climbers would not let him go alone, however, and soon Cadel Evans & Yaroslav Popovych (Silence-Lotto), Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) and Fränk Schleck (CSC) were on his tail. That group caught Voigt with 4km to go.

A little over 3km before the top, Gesink put the hammer down and only Evans was able to follow. Gesink took the KOM while Evans out-sprinted him on the finish line a few kilometers later.

Gesink becomes the new leader of Paris-Nice. He enjoys  a 32 second advantage over Rebellin. Former race leader Chavenel finished more than 3 and a half minutes back. That leaves him in 10th place in the G.C. but with nearly 3 and a half minutes off of the lead, his chances for getting the yellow jersey back look pretty slim.

Bobby Julich (CSC) is the top American in the G.C., but he’s sitting all the way back in 50th.