stage4

RadioShack vet gives solid review to Sky's performance on stage 4

The race is hard, and getting harder as Garmin-Sharp keeps the pressure on

Casey B. Gibson snaps the action on stage 4

The RadioShack strongman gets his first win in years in commanding style

Valverde blames Sky for causing the crash, but director Nicolas Portal won't take the rap

Francisco Mancebo leads men's race; Alison Powers takes over women's GC as Kristin Armstrong skips crit

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. (VN) – The Liquigas-Cannondale train lined up 20km from downtown Steamboat Springs Thursday with a young Italian on the back. When he stormed through the middle of Bike Town USA for a fierce win, Elia Viviani stormed onto the radar for American cycling fans and the Italian world championships team.

USAPCC stage 4 finish-line analysis

Levi Leipheimer expects attacks Saturday

Stage 4 winner Viviani - did he win a trip to Copenhagen?

VIDEO: Christian Vande Velde, looking for a way to win in Colorado

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. (VN) — Liquigas-Cannondale's 22 year old Italian speedster Elia Viviani won Friday's stage 4 of the 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge, outsprinting a large field in this cowboy ski town that went bike crazy for the occasion.

Stage

• 1. Elia VIVIANI, Liquigas-Cannondale, in 2:58:14
• 2. Michael MORKOV, Saxo Bank Sungard, at s.t.
• 3. Kenny Robert VAN HUMMEL, Skil-Shimano, at s.t.
• 4. Robert FÖRSTER, Unitedhealthcare Presented By Maxxis, at s.t.
• 5. Dennis VAN WINDEN, Rabobank Cycling Team, at s.t.

• 1. Levi Leipheimer, Team RadioShack, in 13:28:43
• 2. Christian Vande Velde, Team Garmin-Cervelo, at 00:11
• 3. Tejay Van Garderen, HTC-Highroad, at 00:17
• 4. Tom DANIELSON, Team Garmin-Cervelo, at 00:21
• 5. George Hincapie, BMC Racing Team, at 00:53

" ... I always find solace in telling myself that I will only feel better as the stage goes on. Luckily, today I was telling myself the truth ... "

HTC-Highroad sport director Jens Zemke said Cavendish was spent from the effort of the first four days of racing. "He had nothing left. He was totally empty," Zemke told VeloNews. "He said he was so tired he could have fallen asleep in the car. It was 40C on the road today. He had no more power and could not continue."

Dan Wuori is one of the funniest Twitter bards in the cycling world (follow him at @dwuori). This month, he will be expanding a bit beyond 140 characters to share periodic journals during the Tour de France. Today's is the fifth.

MUR-DE-BRETAGNE, France (VN) — Americans Tejay Van Garderen and Danny Pate earned hard-fought slots on HTC-Highroad's competitive Tour de France selections, but both came via very different routes.

Beating Contador and Gilbert at Mûr-de-Bretagne are major victories

A look at the jersey competitions and more from stage 4

Tuesday's biggest surprise was Thor Hushovd, whose tenacity and strength kept him in the yellow jersey by one second to Cadel Evans (BMC).

MUR-DE-BRETAGNE, France (AFP) — Tour de France contender Andy Schleck brushed off losing eight seconds to yellow jersey rival Alberto Contador on Tuesday as the Spaniard provided drama on a thrilling finish to stage 4.

MUR-DE-BRETAGNE, France (VN) — Alberto Contador isn't one to take setbacks sitting down.

Andrew Hood and Ben Delaney discuss the big rides of stage 4

A look at Cadel Evans' stage-winning BMC teammachine SLR01

Nick Legan looks at how team mechanics prepped bikes for Tuesday's rainy stage

Stage 4

• 1. Cadel Evans, Bmc Racing Team, in 4h 11' 39"
• 2. Alberto Contador, Saxo Bank Sungard, at s.t.
• 3. Alexandre Vinokourov, Pro Team Astana, at 00:00
• 4. Rigoberto Uran, Sky Procycling, at s.t.
• 5. Philippe Gilbert, Omega Pharma - Lotto, at s.t.

Cadel Evans (BMC) won Tuesday's stage 4 of the 2011 Tour de France, a 172.5-kilometer race from Lorient to Mûr-de-Bretagne with a tough uphill finish.

Arm wrestling, stolen wallets and a bad-joke competition

Stage 4

• 1. Christopher Horner (USA), Team RadioShack, at 3:27:51
• 2. Andy Schleck (LUX), Leopard-Trek, at 01:15
• 3. Rory Sutherland (AUS), UnitedHealthcare, at 01:15
• 4. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Team RadioShack, at 01:15
• 5. Tom Danielson (USA), Garmin-Cervélo, at 01:22

GC

• 1. Christopher Horner (USA), Team RadioShack, at 11:29:32
• 2. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Team RadioShack, at 01:15
• 3. Tom Danielson (USA), Garmin-Cervélo, at 01:22
• 4. Christian Vande Velde (USA), Garmin-Cervélo, at 01:29
• 5. Rory Sutherland (AUS), UnitedHealthcare, at 01:30

SAN JOSE, Calif. (VN) — Although he ended up in seventh place, Canadian Ryder Hesjedal not only earned stage 4’s most aggressive rider award but he also dynamited the race with his preemptive attack coming off the hors-cat Mount Hamilton climb that enabled his Garmin-Cervélo team to pack five riders into the top 12 of this sixth Amgen Tour of California.

Check out Brian Holcombe's author page.

VIDEO: Race highlights from stage 4 of the Amgen Tour of California

Taylor Phinney checks in with Brian Holcombe on the literal ups and down of the Amgen Tour of California.

Jesse Anthony’s Orbea Orca Silver

LIVORNO, Italy, May 10, 2011 (AFP) - The Leopard Trek team withdrew from the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday, a day after team member Wouter Weylandt died in a crash during the second stage, the team announced in a statement.

LIVORNO, Italy (VN) – The peloton paid its due respects to Wouter Weylandt in an emotional tribute to the fallen Belgian rider, but promises to get back to the business of racing bikes in Wednesday’s fifth stage at the Giro d’Italia.

Garmin-Cervelo's Tyler Farrar will leave the Giro d'Italia following Tuesday's neutralized stage in honor of Farrar's friend Wouter Weylandt.

GENOA, Italy (AFP) - A moment of silence was held before the start of Tuesday fourth stage of the Tor of Italy, in honor of Belgian rider Wouter Weylandt, who died Monday following an horrific crash on the third stage.

LIVORNO, Italy (VN) — Bjørn Selander of RadioShack spent two days in the white jersey of the best young rider on general classification, and his parents have been able to see it in person for it. Dag and Heidi Selander had been planning to come visit their son in his new home in Italy for some time, and those plans were accelerated when they found out that their son would be riding the Giro.

Matti Breschel and Jakob Fuglsang remain in first and second overall going into the final time trial.

Ryder Hesjedal knows he has to change roles in the absence of team leader Christian Vande Velde.

Lampre's Alessandro Petacchi scores another stage win

Lance Armstrong is relieved to have a crash-free day at the Tour. A heckler cuts short post-race interviews.

As tensions mount in the Tour peloton, Fabian Cancellara is emerging as the new patron.

Thor Hushovd couldn't out-kick Alessandro Petacchi on Wednesday, but he added 17 points to his lead in the green-jersey contest.

Casey B. Gibson finds beer, crowds, a roadside diner and many bandaged riders during Wednesday's stage.

Julian Dean — second in stage 4 — is playing Tyler Farrar's sprinter position while Farrar recovers.

Mark Cavendish's lead-out man says he is 100 percent sure Cav' will win a stage this year.

McEwen and Cav' chat, Hincapie rolls, The Shack pulls. More of Graham Watson's shots from the fourth stage.

Alexander Vinokourov remains an enigma for many watching the 2010 Tour de France.

Complete 2010 Tour de France stage 4 results

Amets Txurruka hits the deck early and hangs on to finish next to last on stage 4, but abandons with his second broken collarbone of the season.

Tour de France sprint legend Erik Zabel fears Mark Cavendish may have already lost the green jersey for good to Thor Hushovd.

Two-time second-place finisher Cadel Evans (BMC) is in the driver’s seat after Tour’s hectic opening.

Even before three crashes wrecked the first mass sprint in the 97th Tour de France, it wasn’t too hard to figure out that the finish would be somewhat chaotic on Sunday.