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The Killer, Danilo Di Luca, takes today’s Stage 4, 162km from Padova to San Martino di Castrozza. On the uphill finish, he cruised by Mauricio Soler with just a couple hundred of meters to go. Thomas Lokvist of Columbia High Road gets to pull on the maglia rosa.

Attacks in the race came early with Ricardo Serrano (Fuji-Servetto) taking off right at the start. He was joined by Evegeny Sokolov (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) and Gonzolo Rabunal (Xacobeo-Galicia). Mikhail Ignatiev counter attacked and got away with Francesco Bellotti (Barloworld), Davide Vigano (Fuji-Servetto), Ian Stannard (ISD), Francesco De Bonis (Serramenti) and Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank). Serafin Martinez (Xacobeo-Galicia) bridged as well. By km 30, this break group is nearly 5 minutes up the road, and then lead by over 6 minutes by km 62.

As the road started to tilt up a little towards Croce d’Aune, the pace continued. LPR and Lampre were leading the peloton, but no one seemed to be really concerned about the fugitives.

At km 111, Davide Vignano takes the intermediate sprint with Francesco Bellotti coming across second. Shortly after, the leaders are on the approach to Croce d’Aune. The average grade is around 8%, but there are parts early on the mountain that are a 12% grade. The gap comes down under 6 minutes, but the peloton isn’t on the climb yet. The climb proves too much for Stannard, Vigano and Martinez as Voigt, De Bonis and Bellotti are the only ones left at the front. Voigt looks strong, but Bellotti is hanging on for dear life.

LPR, Liquigas and Astana head the peloton.

The commentators at Universal Sports have an unhealthy obsession with Lance Armstrong’s twitter account.

Inexplicably, Bellotti attacks near the top to take the KOM points. De Bonis gets the second place points and Voigt goes across third after pulling the other two up the hill. The leaders gain a little of their time back as they descend off of the mountain, but it’s only a short break, as they will be climbing gently all the way to the finish.

While gaps are opening in the peloton, the advantage dropped quickly. It comes down to around 3 minutes now and the peloton is powering along 6 km/hr faster than the leaders. Current maglia rosa wearer Alessandro Petacchi is now more than 8 minutes behind the leaders and five minutes off of the main peloton.

As the leaders started into the final climb, the gap quickly dropped to two minutes. Voigt attacked and was joined by Bellotti, but it was not evident that it would stick. He leads by less than a minute and a half with 3 km to go! As Bellotti gets caught by the peloton, Mauricio Soler makes a failed attack attempt. Voigt couldn’t quite see the peloton behind him, but he could see the motos. The gap was down to 30″, and the peloton was pouring it on. Voigt sat up and the peloton streamed by. Liquigas controlled the front, but Lance was making his way to the front as well.

Soler attacked with a little over 1 km to go. Garzelli went as well, but it’s Danilo Di Luca that comes by in the last meters to take the win.

The Giro continues tomorrow with the fifth stage: 125 km from San Martino di Castrozza to Alpe di Siusi. The final approach to Alpe di Siusi (1844 meters) is 25 kilometers long and has an average slope of 6% (maximum 11%) .

Brief Results:

1 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes - Farnese Vini
2 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo
3 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas
4 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld
5 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli
6 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana
7 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team Columbia - Highroad
8 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas
9 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank
10 David Arroyo (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
11 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Astana
12 Christopher Horner (USA) Astana
13 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) AG2R La Mondiale
14 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C.

General Classification after Stage 4

1 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team Columbia - Highroad
2 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes - Farnese Vini
3 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia - Highroad
4 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Astana
5 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana
6 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
7 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas
8 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C.
9 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C.
10 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Cervelo Test Team
11 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas
12 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Team Columbia - Highroad
13 Christopher Horner (USA) Astana
14 Félix Cardenas (Col) Barloworld
15 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) Team Milram

Tags: acqua & sapone, Ag2r, Alessandro Petacchi, astana, Barloworld, Bouygues Telecom, Caisse d'Epargne, columbia high road, Damiano Cunego, danilo di luca, Diquigiovanni-Androni, Gilberto Simoni, high road, Ivan Basso, jens voigt, Lampre, Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, Liquigas, LPR Brakes, Rabobank, Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli, yaroslav popovych

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