La Vuelta ciclista al Pais Vasco 2008

The fourth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country went from Viana Vitoria to Gasteiz (171 Kms) on April m10 and featured a number of mountains.

The race came down to a sprint by a group of riders that was won by Team CSC's Kim Kirchen. Alberto Contador (Astana) remains in the lead by the slimmest of margins.

Five escapees forced Team Astana to work on the challenging stage. Among those in the leading group was Matthew Lloyd (Silence-Lotto), who was only 1:07 minutes behind Contador in the overall rankings.

The Australian champion sniffed his chance on the last climb, when the group's advantage lay at just over a minute. Lloyd attacked and thus blew apart the leading group. The finale was exciting, as Kirchen sprinted past the three remaining escapees to take the win by a hair.

Four ranked climbs, one Cat. III and three Cat. II, await the riders on Friday's fourth stage between Vitoria and Gasteiz. The riders will have their last chance on the 162 km stage to get a good overall position before the closing time trial decides the overall winner on Saturday.

1 104 KIRCHEN, Kim LUX THR 4:17:33
2 107 POSSONI, Morris ITA THR m.t.
3 183 HERRERO, David ESP KGZ m.t.
4 33 ALBASINI, Michael SUI LIQ m.t.
5 56 LLOYD, Matthew AUS SIL m.t.
6 164 WEGMANN, Fabian GER GST m.t.
7 45 TXURRUKA, Amets ESP EUS m.t.
8 172 FLORENCIO, Xavier ESP BTL m.t.
9 162 SCHUMACHER, Stefan GER GST m.t.
10 148 VELITS, Peter SVK MRM m.t.

General Classification
1 81 CONTADOR, Alberto ESP AST 16:32:01
2 181 MOSQUERA, Ezequiel ESP KGZ a 3
3 183 HERRERO, David ESP KGZ a 8
4 151 CUNEGO, Damiano ITA LAM a 8
5 104 KIRCHEN, Kim LUX THR a 8
6 148 VELITS, Peter SVK MRM a 8
7 51 EVANS, Cadel AUS SIL a 8
8 42 ASTARLOZA, Mikel ESP EUS a 8
9 153 VILA, Patxi Javier ESP LAM a 8
10 68 MONFORT, Maxime BEL COF a 8