Petacchi wins Stage 4, his second already
Italian rider Alessandro Pitacchi won the fourth stage of Le Tour de France on a 153 km distance between French towns of Cambrai and Reims. It is the second time the Italian wins Le Tour, the previous one produced already in the first stage where he finished first, followed by Australian Mark Renshaw and Thor Hushovd from Norway, the last one winning also the third stage on Thursday, stage which took place between Belgian town of Wanze and the French town Arenberg Porte du Hainaut, on a longer 213 km distance.In yesterday’s fourth stage, Norwegian Thor Hushovd finished ninth and Cavendish 12th position. At the end of the stage 4, Italian rider declared: “To win two stages on the Tour de France means a lot, especially at this time in my career. I had nothing to lose so I launched the sprint from far. I stayed close to Cavendish, I marked (Robbie) McEwen and that was it. My experience of more than 200 sprints made the difference.”
A pretty big dissapointment came from Cavendish, who said: „I’m disappointed about today. I felt really good during the stage. I feel sorry for my teammates who rode unbelievably and I just didn’t finish it off at the end. We’re really motivated as a team and I’m going to go out there tomorrow and give it hundred per cent again.”
Le Tour de France continues today on a 187 km distance between Epernay and Montargis as the general standing keeps the yellow jersey on Swiss Fabian Cancellara.11
