Etoile de Besseges stage 4:
Française Des Jeux's Christophe Mengin and Frédéric Amorison of Belgium survived the early break to keep the peloton at bay with Mengin collecting the top podium step. Unibet's Jimmy Casper third.

By Bart Hazen

Les Fumades - Les Fumades - 151 km
The fourth stage of the Etoile de Bessèges was between Les Fumades and Les Fumades, over a distance of 151,0 kilometers.

The stage was animated by an attack of 17 riders. The 17; Arnaud Coyot (Unibet.com), Christophe Mengin (La Française des Jeux), Mikhail Ignatiev (Tinkoff), Martin Elmiger (AG2R Prévoyance), Jimmy Engoulvent (Crédit Agricole), Patrice Halgand (Crédit Agricole), Frédéric Guesdon (La Française des Jeux), Koen Barbe (Chocolade Jacques), Sébastien Minard (Cofidis), Kevin De Weert (Cofidis), Frédéric Amorison (Landbouwkrediet), Johan Van Summeren (Predictor Lotto), Nicolas Jalabert (Agritubel), Steven Tronet (Roubaix Lille Métropole), Guillaume Levarlet (Auber 93), Xavier Florencio (Bouygues Telecom ) and Marco Pinotti (T-Mobile).

The maximum lead of the 17 riders was about 2;00. But Cofidis started to ride for Nuyens despite having two Cofidis mates in the leading group with De Weert and Minard. In the final kilometers Mengin and Amorison attacked. And the others didn’t follow. With 10 km to go the peloton caught the 15 and was 1:12 down on the leaders. The teams of the sprinters started to chase and the gap came down to 58 sec, 30 sec, 22 sec to 6 sec. under the flame rouge.

Mengin dropped Amorison and won the stage with 2 seconds on Amorison and the bunch. Casper won the sprint of the bunch for 3rd. Nick Nuyens remains in the lead with one stage to go.

The Remaining Stage :
5ème étape - Gagnières-Bessèges - 148 km

Stage 4 Result: Les Fumades - Les Fumades
151 km - 3.22.28 - 44.96 km/h
1 Christophe Mengin (Fra) Française Des Jeux 3.22.28 (44.96 km/h)
2 Frédéric Amorison (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner 0.02
3 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Unibet.com
4 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Française Des Jeux
5 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Crédit Agricole
6 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Roubaix Lille Metropole
7 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux
8 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Cofidis
9 Roger Hammond (GBr) T-Mobile
10 Jean-Luc Delpech (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux
11 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen
12 Mickael Larpe (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole
13 Renaud Dion (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance
14 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
15 Jukka Vastaranta (Fin) Jartazi Promo Fashion
16 Jean Mespoulede (Fra) Auber
17 Mathieu Drujon (Fra) Auber
18 Denis Flahaut (Fra) Jartazi Promo Fashion
19 Ruggero Marzoli (Ita) Tinkoff Credit Systems
20 Michaël Blanchy (Bel) Babes Only-Villapark Langemeer-Flanders

General Classification after stage 3
1 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Cofidis 14.20.70
2 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Tinkoff Credit Systems 0.08
3 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Predictor-Lotto 0.10
4 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Cofidis 0.18
5 Sébastien Minard (Fra) Cofidis 0.39
6 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Cofidis 0.42
7 Jukka Vastaranta (Fin) Jartazi Promo Fashion 0.44
8 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
9 Baden Cooke (Aus) Unibet.com 0.48
10 Xavier Florencio (Spa) Bouygues Telecom 0.57
11 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Predictor-Lotto 0.59
12 Alexander Serov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems 1.00
13 Mickael Larpe (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole
14 Dominique Cornu (Bel) Predictor-Lotto
15 Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Crédit Agricole
16 Michiel Elijzen (Ned) Cofidis
17 Frédéric Guesdon (Fra) Française Des Jeux
18 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole
19 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen
20 Andy Cappelle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner