32nd Route du Sud - Stage 4
Slipstream - Garmin/Chipotle's Irish rider, Daniel Martin opens his pro account! Jussi Veikkanen impresses in final attack.

A pleasant Sunday's ride for some, but not for the 14 riders who attacked with 153 km to go. Ireland' Daniel Martin Slipstreams to the finish to keep his yellow jersey.

Stage 4 Saint Gaudens - Castres 207 km
For the second year in a row an escape managed to evade capture and arrive ahead of the peloton... this year it was as impressive as the 36 minute gap of stage 2 - none of the escapees were a serious threat to the race leaders. By the final stage ten survivors of that original escape led the remainder of the peloton by 32 or more minutes.

At any rate the peloton, with no need to close the gap, arrived almost 7 minutes down on the break of the day composed of 14 riders who escaped with 153 kilometers left to race. Jussi Veikkanen won the 5 up sprint at the finish after the group split in the final kilometers.

Ag2r's Nicolas Jalabert finished second, with Troncoso Ramon third... Aqua Sapone's Massimo Codol and Julie El Fares of Cofidis filled out the top five. With the second and third groups coming in at 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Veikkanen was also awarded the most combative riders trophy for the days effort in the break. Allan Davis won the bunch sprint for 15th place at 6:50.

Daniel Martin arrived escorted by Tom Danielson and Slipstream team in the middle of the peloton to secure his win of the key French race used as preparation for the tour de France.

The first attack of the day came from Cofidis' Julien El Farès he gained a small gap but was chased back after a short adventure. Not long after six riders led by Emilien Bergès (Agritubel), serial attacker Mickaël Buffaz and Cofidis teammate Rein Taaramae, joined by Christophe Riblon(AG2R), Credit Agricole's  Jeremy Hunt and Diego Milan Jimenez of Acqua Sapone.

Alas, Slipstream or should we say, Garmin/Chipotle chased and the escape had a short lived adventure under the pleasant sunny skies of southern France as they approached the first intermediate sprint in Roquefort.

Ahhh Rouquefort the king of all cheeses bleu, matured in the caves of the nearby valley... but I digress; Simon Gerrans took the max points available at the 29.9 sprint line leading Jeremy Hunt and Yoann Offredo for the points and time bonuses available.

The peloton settled in for the long hauls but an hour later after 58 km Française des jeux's  Jussi Veikkanen active in early attacks today led an attack that grew to 14 raiders who left the comfort of the peloton for the open road and quickly got a minutes gap. The wrecking crew flew up the road as Trent Lowe tapped out the tempo with Garmin/Chipotle team of yellow jersey Daniel Martin.

The 14 riders: Nicolas Jalabert (Agritubel), Christophe Rinero (Agritubel), Jussi Veikkanen (Française des jeux). Julien El Farès (Cofidis), Yann Huguet (Cofidis), Yohann Gène (Bouygues Telecom), Stéphane Poulhiès (AG2R), Jeremy Hunt (Crédit Agricole), Cyril Gautier (Bretagne-Armor Lux), Jean-Marc Bideau (Roubaix-Lille Métropole), Mickaël Larpe (Roubaix-Lille Métropole), Eddy Serry (Miche), Ramon Troncoso Sobrino (Karpin Galicia) and Massimo Codol of Acqua & Sapone.

10 km later the group had a 2:30 gap grew to 4:35, Slipstream/Garmin/Chipotle gained an ally in the chase as Mitsubisihi/Jartazi came to the front to help. Cofidis' Yann Huguet led over the Cat 3 côte de Sicardoux at 90 km, with team mate Julien El Farès second, and Agritubel's  Christophe Rinero (Agritubel) taking the remaining points.

The 14 forced the pace driving it to 6:20 as they approached the half way point of the 207 km stage. 15 km later at 85 km to go the gap rose to 7:40 in spite of the effort of the chase by Slipstream and Mitsubishi. With 70 to go and approaching the second climb the gap was over 8 minutes as the peloton suffered attrition with riders abandoning down to 87.

Over the côte de saint Ferréol (km 142) El Frares led Christophe Rinero (Agritubel) with Cyril Gautier taking third as the gap climbed on the descent to 8:30 to yellow jersey group of Daniel Martin.

The intermediate sprint followed in Dourgne at 154km/53 to go as Jeremy Hunt, Stéphane Poulhiès Yohann Gène raced through in that order... the 14 lads continued to work well together and  kept the gap at over 8 minutes by 28 km to go.

Back in the peloton Martin's harlequin crew worked with Mitsubishi/Jartazi and Roubaix Lille Metropole but the 14 continued to defy the chase. It became clear at this point the winner of the stage would come from among the 14 outriders.

Approaching the final climbing test the côte de Saint Salvy with the summit (190 km) only 17 km from the finish.  Jussi Veikkanen launched his attack on the early slopes of the climb. The attack split the peloton under the FDJ attack.

Jussi Veikkanen led over the climb with 18 seconds on the second group; Nicolas Jalabert (Agritubel), Julien El Farès (Cofidis), Ramon Troncoso Sobrino (Karpin Galicia), and Massimo Codol (Acqua & Sapone).

The second group of 9 struggled over the summit at 1:30: Christophe Rinero (Agritubel), Yann Huguet (Cofidis), Yohann Gène (Bouygues), Stéphane Poulhiès (Ag2r), Jeremy Hunt (Crédit Agricole), Cyril Gautier (Bretagne-Armor Lux), Jean-Marc Bideau (Roubaix-Lille Métropole), Mickaël Larpe (Roubaix-Lille Métropole), and Eddy Serry (Miche).

On the descent the El Fares regrouped with the lead chase group... but the victory went to  Jussi Veikkanen (Française des jeux) as Jalabert led Ramon Sobrino and Codol to the finish for the podium. The rest of the break finished 6:50 up on the peloton.

Team Garmin/Chipotle Comments:
The team delivered to the finish of today’s final stage by all his teammates, 21-year-old Dan Martin crossed the line in Castres, France the winner of his first pro race. In taking the yellow at the 32nd Route du Sud, the young Irish rider also gave the newly named Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O it’s first win.

“Nobody made it easy for us today - and the sprinters’ teams pretty much just gave up halfway through,” said CEO Director Sportif Jonathan Vaughters from the finish in Castres. “However, the guys did great and held the gap nice and even. Dan was comfortable and well protected. Winning our first race out for our new sponsor, Garmin, is pretty special.”

Also onsite for the four-day stage race was Dan’s trainer, Sports Physiologist Adrie van Diemen. “At the beginning of the season, one of Dan’s goals was to win a pro race. Today it just turned out to be a stage race!” Adrie said. “This is great for Dan. All his hard and dedicated training and racing has led to this top performance.”

Saint Gaudens - Castres
207.1 km - 5:07'46' -
1 VEIKKANEN Jussi FDJ 5h07'46'' 10''
2 JALABERT Nicolas AGR à 01'' 6''
3 RAMON Troncoso S. KGZ ''     4''
4 CODOL Massimo ASA ''     
5 EL FARES Julien COF à 08'' 
6 GENE Yohann BTL à 31'' 
7 BIDEAU Marc RLM à 32'' 
8 HUNT Jeremy C.A à 36'' 
9 SERRI Eddy MIE ''     

10 LARPE Mickael RLM à 01'30'' 
11 RINERO Christophe AGR ''     
12 HARY Maryan COF ''     
13 POULHIES Stéphane ALM à 01'55'' 
14 GAUTIER Cyril BAL ''     

15 DAVIS Allan MIT à 06'50'' 
16 MESPOULEDE Jean AUB ''     
17 ROUSSEAU Nicolas ALM ''     
18 PAOLINI Luca ASA ''     
19 OFFREDO Yoann FDJ ''     
20 RENIER Franck BTL ''     
21 JEANNESSON Arnold AUB ''     
22 BUFFAZ Mickaël COF ''     
23 LE MEVEL Christophe C.A ''     
24 JEGOU Lilian FDJ ''     
25 MOUCHERAUD Paul RLM ''     
26 PALEO Alejandro KGZ ''     
27 PIERFELICI Luca ASA ''     
28 CHEREL Mikael FDJ ''     
29 ROY Jérémy FDJ ''     
30 SOKOLOV Evgeny BTL ''     
31 DUPONT Hubert ALM ''     
32 BERGES Emilien Benoit AGR ''     
33 MILAN JIMENEZ Diego ASA ''     
34 LOUBET Julien ALM ''     
35 LEQUATRE Geoffroy AGR ''     
36 LOWE Trent TSL ''     
37 PETERSON Thomas TSL ''     
38 GERRANS Simon C.A ''     
39 RICCI POGGI Martial MIT ''     
40 FRISCHKORN William TSL ''     
41 MOREAU Christophe AGR ''     
42 AREKEEV Alexander ASA ''     
43 VAN TOMME Maxime MIT ''     
44 CESAR VELOSO Gustavo KGZ ''     
45 DANIELSON Thomas TSL ''     
46 MARTIN Daniel TSL à 06'50'' 
47 HARTMANN Nicolas COF ''     
48 SZCZAWINSKI Krzysztof MIE ''     
49 DE WEERT Kevin COF ''     
50 NIEMIEC Przemyslaw MIE ''     
51 MANGEL Laurent ALM ''     
52 MARINO Jean Marc C.A ''     
53 GUDSELL Timothy FDJ ''     
54 GIUNTI Massimo MIE ''     
55 DELROT Bastien RLM ''     
56 POILVET Benoît BAL ''     
57 MUTO Pasquale MIE ''     
58 GUILLOU Florian RLM ''     
59 COUTOULY Cedric AGR ''     
60 USAI Stefano MIE ''     
61 FERNANDEZ Alberto KGZ ''     
62 SENAC Jean-Charles ALM ''     
63 MARTINEZ Serafin KGZ ''     
64 KRIIT Kalle MIT ''     
65 TAARAMAE Rein COF ''     
66 LELAY David BAL ''     
67 CAZAUX Pierre RLM ''     
68 CARVAJAL JARAMILLO Edwin MIE ''     
69 CARTA Maurizio MIE ''     
70 MEDEREL Maxime C.A ''     
71 RIBLON Christophe ALM ''     
72 PIVOIS Yann BAL ''     
73 GARZELLI Stefano ASA ''     
74 STUBBE Tom FDJ ''     
75 HUGUET Yann COF à 07'01''
76 LE BOULANGER Yoann FDJ ''   
77 LAURENT Christophe TSL à 09'03''
78 CHARLES Xavier STE à 09'29''
79 NEVENS Sven MIT à 10'02''
80 CAVALLARI Stefano ASA à 11'52''
81 VILLA Romain COF à 15'57''
82 HIVERT Jonathan C.A ''   
83 VACHON Florian RLM ''   
84 ALBIEZ Timo STE à 29'44''
Ab GONZALO RAMIREZ Eduardo AGR 
Ab RAVARD Anthony AGR 
Ab ABAKOUMOV Igor MIT 
Ab FARRAR Tyler TSL 
NP BERNAUDEAU Giovanni BTL 
NP CLAUDE Mathieu BTL 

Climbers Classification
1 91 NIEMIEC P. MIE 43
2 22 DE WEERT K. COF 22
3 103 MARTINEZ S. KGZ 16
4 23 EL FARES J. COF 14
5 27 TAARAMAE R. COF 12
6 42 LOUBET J. ALM 9
7 12 CHEREL M. FDJ
8 16 VEIKKANEN J. FDJ 5
9 26 HARY M. COF 5
10 18 ROY J. FDJ 5

Points Classification (final)
1 91 NIEMIEC P. MIE 37 
2 127 MARTIN D. TSL 34
3 53 GERRANS S. C.A 29 
4 1 MOREAU C. AGR 29 
5 16 VEIKKANEN J. FDJ 28 
6 138 PIERFELICI L. ASA 21 
7 41 DUPONT H. ALM 19 
8 102 RAMON T. KGZ 18 
9 81 BIDEAU M. RLM 18 
10 23 EL FARES J. COF 18

Intermediate Sprint Points Classification
1 53 GERRANS S. C.A 24
2 12 CHEREL M. FDJ 15 
3 103 MARTINEZ S. KGZ 12 
4 81 BIDEAU M. RLM 7 
5 16 VEIKKANEN J. FDJ 6 
6 1 MOREAU C. AGR 6 
7 96 SERRI E. MIE 3 
8 72 GAUTIER C. BAL 3 
9 55 HUNT J. C.A 3
10 25 HARTMANN N. COF 3

General Classification after Stage 4 (Final)
1 MARTIN Daniel TSL 16h44'21''
2 MOREAU Christophe AGR à 01'42''
3 PIERFELICI Luca ASA à 02'58''
4 GERRANS Simon C.A à 02'59''
5 ROY Jérémy FDJ à 07'37''
6 DUPONT Hubert ALM à 07'46''
7 AREKEEV Alexander ASA à 08'41''
8 RAMON Troncoso S. KGZ à 11'46''
9 MUTO Pasquale MIE à 14'25''
10 HARTMANN Nicolas COF à 16'07''

11 BIDEAU Marc RLM à 32'16''
12 NIEMIEC Przemyslaw MIE à 34'06''
13 GUILLOU Florian RLM à 36'32''
14 DE WEERT Kevin COF à 38'06''
15 LOUBET Julien ALM à 38'21''
16 MANGEL Laurent ALM à 38'22''
17 MARTINEZ Serafin KGZ à 40'56''
18 CHEREL Mikael FDJ à 42'41''
19 LOWE Trent TSL à 43'02''
20 LE BOULANGER Yoann FDJ à 43'24''
21 MESPOULEDE Jean AUB à 47'00''
22 CAZAUX Pierre RLM à 47'31''
23 GARZELLI Stefano ASA à 51'21''
24 JEANNESSON Arnold AUB à 51'47''
25 SOKOLOV Evgeny BTL à 51'53''
26 LEQUATRE Geoffroy AGR à 52'05''
27 EL FARES Julien COF à 53'52''
28 GIUNTI Massimo MIE à 55'49''
29 BUFFAZ Mickaël COF à 56'05''
30 OFFREDO Yoann FDJ à 56'36''
31 JALABERT Nicolas AGR à 56'46''
32 HIVERT Jonathan C.A à 56'50''
33 RINERO Christophe AGR à 58'15''
34 PETERSON Thomas TSL à 59'21''
35 DAVIS Allan MIT à 59'30''
36 TAARAMAE Rein COF à 1h00'18''
37 DELROT Bastien RLM à 1h03'09''
38 VEIKKANEN Jussi FDJ à 1h03'23''
39 CODOL Massimo ASA à 1h03'49''
40 LAURENT Christophe TSL à 1h04'14''
41 GAUTIER Cyril BAL à 1h06'26''
42 GENE Yohann BTL à 1h08'20''
43 HARY Maryan COF à 1h08'23''
44 LARPE Mickael RLM à 1h08'50''
45 HUNT Jeremy C.A à 1h08'55''
46 POULHIES Stéphane ALM à 1h10'03''
47 PAOLINI Luca ASA à 1h10'27''
48 HUGUET Yann COF à 1h11'00''
49 STUBBE Tom FDJ à 1h11'14''
50 BERGES Emilien Benoit AGR à 1h11'28''
51 LE MEVEL Christophe C.A à 1h11'37''
52 MEDEREL Maxime C.A à 1h11'42''
53 KRIIT Kalle MIT à 1h11'50''
54 RIBLON Christophe ALM à 1h11'52''
55 POILVET Benoît BAL à 1h12'09''
56 CARVAJAL JARAMILLO Edwin MIE à 1h12'12''
57 SENAC Jean-Charles ALM à 1h12'23''
58 JEGOU Lilian FDJ ''   
59 ROUSSEAU Nicolas ALM à 1h12'32''
60 USAI Stefano MIE à 1h12'37''
61 CESAR VELOSO Gustavo KGZ à 1h12'40''
62 DANIELSON Thomas TSL à 1h12'43''
63 SERRI Eddy MIE à 1h12'50''
64 MARINO Jean Marc C.A à 1h13'04''
65 PALEO Alejandro KGZ à 1h13'12''
66 FERNANDEZ Alberto KGZ à 1h13'13''
67 PIVOIS Yann BAL à 1h13'15''
68 RICCI POGGI Martial MIT à 1h13'39''
69 MOUCHERAUD Paul RLM à 1h13'59''
70 VAN TOMME Maxime MIT à 1h14'16''
71 LELAY David BAL à 1h14'30''
72 COUTOULY Cedric AGR à 1h14'35''
73 GUDSELL Timothy FDJ à 1h15'06''
74 FRISCHKORN William TSL à 1h15'46''
75 RENIER Franck BTL à 1h16'16''
76 MILAN JIMENEZ Diego ASA à 1h16'43''
77 CARTA Maurizio MIE à 1h18'20''
78 CHARLES Xavier STE à 1h18'39''
79 SZCZAWINSKI Krzysztof MIE à 1h19'05''
80 NEVENS Sven MIT à 1h19'26''
81 CAVALLARI Stefano ASA à 1h21'27''
82 VACHON Florian RLM à 1h24'27''
83 VILLA Romain COF à 1h25'58''
84 ALBIEZ Timo STE à 1h36'45''

Teams Classification After Stage 4
1 Acqua Sapone-Caffe Mokambo Ita 51h06'38''
2 Ag2r La Mondiale Fra 51h29'22'' À 22'44''
3 Francaise Des Jeux Fra 51h36'11'' À 29'33''
4 Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone Fra 51h46'27'' À 39'49''
5 Miche - Silver Cross Smr 51h51'20'' À 44'42''
6 Roubaix Lille Metropole Fra 51h51'40'' À 45'02''
7 Agritubel Fra 51h52'37'' À 45'59''
8 Slipstream Chipotle P/By H30 Usa 51h54'33'' À 47'55''
9 Credit Agricole Fra 52h07'30'' À 1h00'52''
10 Karpin Galicia Esp 52h18'36'' À 1h11'58''
11 Bouygues Telecom Fra 52h58'07'' À 1h51'29''
12 Mitsubishi-Jartazi Est 53h01'44'' À 1h55'06''
13 Bretagne Armor Lux Fra 53h04'25'' À 1h57'47''

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