Petacchi pounces again

Alessandro Petacchi claimed his second Tour de France stage win another storming sprint display.

No change in the yellow jersey standings

Team Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen sprinted to a fine third place on the fourth stage of the Tour de France but it was Alessandro Petacchi who was celebrating again after timing his late kick to perfection. The Lampre rider - who also triumphed on stage one - positioned himself right behind Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) and Thor Hushovd (Cervélo) on the closing straight in Reims and jumped out of his rivals' slipstream before powering on to pip Garmin's Julian Dean at the line. Boasson Hagen was right in the mix as well after an equally-intelligent display. With 500 metres to go the Norwegian had appeared to be boxed in by his rivals but opened up space for himself by swinging to the left of the pack and then hit the gas hard to secure his place on the podium. Cavendish, on the other hand, looked out of sorts on the day and sat up well before the stage had reached its conclusion, eventually rolling home in a disappointing 12th position. Behind, all the main general classification contenders finished safely inside the lead bunch ensuring Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) maintained his 23-second advantage over Geraint Thomas in the battle for the yellow jersey. Thomas also retained his white jersey in the best young rider classification. After the carnage of the previous three days, Wednesday's stage was relatively straightforward by comparison. Dimitri Champion (AG2R) had been the first rider to move clear of the pack and he was quickly joined by Francis De Greef (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Nicolas Vogondy (Bbox-Bouygues), Iñaki Isasi (Euskaltel) and Iban Mayoz (Footon) in the day's sole breakaway. That quintet's lead was never allowed to grow above four minutes though and they were eventually reeled back inside the final 3km. From then on it was all about the sprinters and Steve Cummings produced a typically strong display to guide Boasson Hagen into contention for Team Sky. HTC-Columbia looked to have the advantage as they swung onto the closing straight, but in the scrappy finish that ensued it was Petacchi who took the bull by the horns and pressed on to secure another hard-fought success. Stage four result: 1 - Alessandro Petacchi - (ITA) - Lampre - (3:34:55)
2 - Julian Dean - (NZL) - Garmin - (same time)
3 - Edvald Boasson Hagen - (NOR) - Team Sky - (same time)
4 - Robbie McEwen - (AUS) - Katyusha - (same time)
5 - Robert Hunter - (RSA) - Garmin - (same time)
6 - Sébastien Turgot - (FRA) - Bbox-Bouygues - (same time)
7 - José Joaquín Rojas - (ESP) - Caisse d'Epargne - (same time)
8 - Daniel Oss - (ITA) - Liquigas - (same time)
9 - Thor Hushovd - (NOR) - Cervélo - (same time)
10 - Óscar Freire - (ESP) - Rabobank - (same time)
Overall standings: 1 - Fabian Cancellara - (SUI) - Saxo Bank - (18:28:55)
2 - Geraint Thomas - (WAL) - Team Sky - (+23)
3 - Cadel Evans - (AUS) - BMC Racing - (+39)
4 - Ryder Hesjedal - (CAN) - Garmin - (+46)
5 - Sylvain Chavanel - (FRA) - Quick-Step - (+1:01)
6 - Andy Schleck - (LUX) - Saxo Bank - (+1:09)
7 - Thor Hushovd - (NOR) - Cervélo - (+1:19)
8 - Alexandre Vinokourov - (KAZ) - Astana - (+1:31)
9 - Alberto Contador - (ESP) - Astana - (+1:40)
10 - Jurgen Van den Broeck - (BEL) - Omega Pharma-Lotto - (+1:42)