Haedo does the double
The longest stage of the Tour of California saw Argentinean fast man Juan Jose Haedo (Toyota-United Pro Cycling) win a bunch sprint for the second time this week. Haedo outfoxed some of best sprinters in the world in what he called the fastest sprint of his career. "The last three kilometres were probably the fastest three kilometres of my life!" Haedo told Cyclingnews after the stage. "I was in my eleven and I couldn't go any faster! I think we were going over 70 kph!" Second and third places went to Freddie Rodriguez (Davitamon-Lotto) and Andre Korff (T-Mobile), while Floyd Landis (Phonak) retained the leader's jersey.
The 210 km fourth stage from Monterey to San Luis Obispo was marked by numerous attempts to get away in the first 100 km. But it took that long until a group of 13 managed to get clear, gaining nearly three minutes on the Phonak-led peloton. It was reduced to six with 50 km to go: Chris Horner (Davitamon Lotto), Lars Bak (CSC), Vladimir Gusev (Discovery), Jean Marco Marino (Credit Agricole), Glen Chadwick (Navigators), and Mark McCormack (Colavita Sutter Home), but the presence of Horner doomed the break. Gusev and Chadwick continued on their own, rebuilding their lead to 2'25 with 25 km to go before Toyota-United Pro Cycling, Health Net and CSC upped the tempo and chased them down with five kilometres left.
After a technical finish, the sprint saw Juan Jose Haedo burn off the others in his wake as he enjoyed some more early season success.
Also see: Full results, report & photos, , Main, Stages & results, Map, Start list, Photos.
