Giro d'Italia 2008 - Stage Four

The 2008 Giro d'Italia started from Palermo, southern Italy on May 10 and is held over 21 stages until June 1.

Stage 4 - May 13 Pizzo Calabro - Catanzaro-Lungomare 187km

Mark Cavendish, riding for the High Road team, won the fourth stage of the Tour of Italy. - more

Erik Zabel claimed sixth place finish, missing the hoped-for podium placing, after finishing second in the previous day's mass sprint.

"My legs weren't so good today and we had a lot of head wind in the sprint,“ said Erik Zabel.. "Once again I must pay an enormous compliment to my team. They guys did their usual great job.“

This was Cavendish's first win in the Giro and he achieved it by proving too strong in the final push for the line from Germany's Robert Forster and third stage winner, Daniele Bennati of Italy.

Cavendish said of his win; "I spoke to the team before the stage and said I need everybody with me before climb. They did a perfect job to keep me at the front before the climb and then went full gas to get me back to the front.”

I wasn’t affected by the crash in the final kilometer but I was back in tenth place. Fortunately Tony Martin did a perfect job and took me to third. Bennati went at the right moment but I beat him because I’m younger and I’m quicker in the final 100 metres of sprints.”

"This is my finest victory," the Briton said. "It was the result of my team's work which kept me surrounded over the last 20km.

"The wind was blowing hard and Bennati went off at a good time, but I was able to follow him and overtake him.

"In terms of the sprinter's hierarchy I reckon I'm among the best."

Race leader Franco Pellizotti said: "I'm the happiest man in the world.

"Tomorrow (See below)) I hope to retain the jersey. We're about to come up against the important stages."

One rider who will not be lining up for Wednesday's 203km fifth stage between Belvedere Marittimo to Contursi Terme near Salerno is Belgian Nick Nuyens.

The Cofidis rider has had to pull out after fracturing his shoulder blade in a fall at the finish.

Riccardo Ricco had to favour his hand caused in a carsh on stage three, "I overcame the pain and reached the finish line. I hope I´ll get better; otherwise I´ll have a rough time in the mountains, when I have to stand on my bike and press hard on the handlebar. When I saw the crash ahead of me, I though I´d end up on the floor again, but I easily dodged the falling men."

Saunier Duvall's Pietro Algeri said, "Riccò suffered today, but we´d expected this to happen. I´d told him he´d feel the pain for a couple of days. If things don´t get worse, but no new X-rays will be taken of his hand."

Good news for Mauricio Soler who finished the race without serious problems. As the pain to his injured left hand decreased, Mauricio took of a protective bandage and was able to hold the handlebars correctly.

Team Barloworld's worked to bring back Rik Verbrugghe 160 km escape, led by Steve Cummings, Geriant Thomas and Carlo Scognamiglio. . "We just intended to keep Soler into the first positions - directeur sportif Alberto Volpi said - we didn't think to attack at all".

Bad luck for Lampre on stage three - four crashes to Gavazzi, Santambrogio, Bossoni and Bruseghin, four punctures, one of which for sprinter Mircoze Lorenzetto when they were at 2 kms to go when he was just behind Bennati, who won the stage; three broken gears.

“In a long tour there’s always a bad luck day: we hope that today could remain the only one! – Fabrizio Bontempi, Lampre’s sport director, commented – That’s a pity for the riders, who gave all their best”.

More up to date - “Yesterday I was feeling better, but I couldn’t take part in the sprint – Lorenzetto explained – My team mates helped me to be in a good position for the sprint and this was very important in order to avoid the crash that broke the bunch. When Bennati started his action, I tried to raise my speed, but Cavendish was too strong”.

Fabrizio Bontempi, Lampre’s sport director: said, “First of all, I would like to underline the good performance of the whole team. The level of the sprint was very high and Lorenzetto could battle against best sprinters”.

For Team CSC the main focus was on getting Chris Anker Sørensen through the stage in one piece after he crashed twice during stage three.

"We were actually a bit nervous ahead of the stage because it turned out that Chris had taken a pretty hefty blow to his tail bone yesterday. But the good news for are that it all went better than we'd expected and we got through the stage fine really. Luckily we didn't suffer any crashes out there either," said Team CSC sports director Kim Andersen.

A broken collar bone put Stuart O'Grady out on Stage three, "It's just part of the game unfortunately – I'll be back in no time. It's only one broken bone this time, it's nothing. I can get on the home trainer straight away and I'll be racing again in a couple of weeks. It's a compound fracture and a clean break so it'll heal fast.".

It has almost become a daily routine in the Giro d'Italia: the coming and going of ambulances. Mathew Hayman was one of the victims of the finish line crash on stage four and he sustained a swollen wrist.

Lead sprinter Graeme Brown closely failed to keep up during the last climb of the day. "He hung on for a while out of sheer determination, but he had to let go of the group at a certain moment after all," noted second team manager Frans Maassen. "We tried to use Bram de Groot to bring Graeme back, but that was unfortunately to no avail."

The only Rabobank rider involved in the final crash was Dmitriy Kozontchuk.. "It was much less dangerous than on Monday," felt Frans Maassen. "The roads on Sicily were just outright dangerous. What happened in sight of the finish could have happened everywhere."

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The fifth stage runs 203 km from Belvedere Marittino to Contursi Terme. Milram's Enrico Poitschke said,

"Tomorrow's stage will be one for riders who can attack on a 9% gradient, like we will see in the last three km. I think it will be a sprint with a few riders, rather than a mass sprint.".