Chicchi kicks hardest in Modesto

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The fourth stage of the Amgen Tour of California didn't look like a day for the sprinters on paper, but Liquigas' Francesco Chicchi proved the prognosticators wrong by taking out the bunch kick into Modesto.

The Italian took his sixth win of the season by overpowering Saxo Bank's JJ Haedo and points leader Mark Cavendish at the end of the 195.5 kilometre stage.

"I'm proud to win again here in the United States, and I love to race hard and win in America," said Chicchi, a two-time winner at the Tour of Missouri. Beating Cavendish, one of the fastest men in the world, was an added bonus.

"Mark and I are rivals on the bike, but good friends outside the race. Winning is always good, but to beat the number one is even better."

The win adds to his victories in the Tour de San Luis, Tour of Qatar and Coppi Bartali this season. After his successful start, Chicchi took a break and resumed training "with a strong desire to do well in California".

Chicchi's win also adds to the success of the Liquigas-Doimo team in California, where Peter Sagan leads the best young rider classification and sits fourth overall. Despite his high position on GC, Sagan was not above trying to secure a stage win for his teammate.

"Cervélo was pulling for [Theo] Bos on the last kilometre, and with about 300m to go Sagan gave me a nice lead-out. I did as well as I could into the headwind," he said. "I want to dedicate this stage to my teammates who worked all day and all of the season."

General classification leader David Zabriskie (Garmin-Transitions) finished safely in the bunch despite some damp and slippery turns in the finishing circuits which took out several riders in addition to bringing Radioshack's Lance Armstrong to a halt inside the final 3km.

"I was really enjoying wearing the jersey in the great state of California," said Zabriskie of his first stint in the yellow leader's shirt. "This is something I've really wanted, and it's a special time for me.

"I just stay calm, rely on the team - they did great work today. We were all comfortable today and we're all doing our job to keep the jersey."

There were no changes to the lead in the best young rider and points classifications as Peter Sagan (Liquigas), Thomas Rabou (Team Type 1) and Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) maintained their positions in the respective competitions.

The mountains classification moved from the shoulders of Thomas Rabou (Team Type 1) and onto those of Ryan Anderson (Kelly Benefit Strategies) after the latter made the day's breakaway.

"This is a really big result for me," said Anderson. "Keeping the jersey will be important for the team. The Big Bear stage has a ton of KOMs so that can be a big day."

A serve of Sierra sets up the break

Heading out from San Jose the 124 riders left in the peloton enjoyed clear blue skies and mild temperatures, but would see some more light rain before the day was out. After a three-mile neutral roll-out and the day's breakaway went immediately as the official race start got underway.

Three stages have passed so far in the Amgen Tour of California and with bigger gaps forming on the general classification, the ProTour team who have so far been shut out of the glory were keen to get some television time today.

After three days of domestic team-only breakaways, the Rabobank and Quick Step teams managed to put men into the move, with Lars Boom and Jurgen Van de Walle being joined by domestic riders Rob Britton (Bissell), Jeremy Powers (Jelly Belly), Scott Stewart and Davide Frattini (Team Type 1) and Ryan Anderson (Kelly Benefit Strategies).

The most difficult climb of the day up Sierra Road came only 4.4 miles into the race, and while Team Type 1 was keen to add to its tally of mountain points and prevent Anderson from taking the jersey away, both Frattini and Stewart were unable to match the pace of the other breakaway riders on the 5.9km ascent.

The six remaining riders quickly built up a four minute lead on the peloton by the top, putting Boom into the virtual race lead as he began the stage 1:47 behind Zabriskie. Van de Walle was the next best at 3:08.

By the time the leaders hit the first sprint bonus of the day in Livermore, the gap had reached its maxium at 6:30. Boom claimed the sprint ahead of Powers and Anderson.

On the second KOM of the day, Anderson sprinted to the line first over Van de Walle, Britton and Boom before being dropped from the break.

Despite an intimidating profile, the uncategorised climb at the mid-point of the stage did not prove to be decisive in the peloton, and HTC-Columbia's star sprinter and green jersey holder Mark Cavendish was still well-protected in the main peloton.

With Theo Bos and Chicchi also still in the bunch, the Cervélo and Liquigas teams also contributed to the pace-setting and began whittling down the gap to the leading four on the long, gradual descent to Modesto.

It looked like a forumlaic stage, where the sprinters' teams nailed back the gap inside the final few kilometres, but after the second sprint in Patterson, won by Boom, a strong crosswind, a large crash and Radioshack's efforts the peloton was split in two, with Zabriskie missing the front end - a move which could have ended his time in the yellow jersey.

"The team did a good job pulling me up to the split, and that kind of blew the team there, but then we took a left hand turn and it was a block headwind and everything came back together. The team was super-duper," said Zabriskie.

The headwind also drove the leader's advantage down to the one minute range with 17km to go and it seemed destined to be reeled in, but Boom attacked and opened a gap on his breakaway companions. His jump did nothing to help the break stay clear, and after a time solo he was rejoined by the Van de Walle, Powers and Britton with the gap falling to 30 seconds.

Boom attacked again with 10km to go hoping to at least pull off a stage victory if he could not gain the overall lead, and with one lap to go he maintained a slim advantage over his companions with the peloton 20 seconds behind, but HTC-Columbia had assumed full control and Boom was just prolonging his agony. The lights went out with 8km to go.

Rabobank was determined to get its stage, and launched Martijn Tjallingii off the front inside the final three kilometres, but again the effort was futile.

Rain falling on the closing circuit had dampened the roads, making for a sketchy run-in on the 2.8 mile lap, and safe inside the protected zone, Lance Armstrong hit the deck but his position on the general classification was protected by the UCI rules.

HTC-Columbia's train was overtaken by Fly V Australia for Jonathan Cantwell first and then jumped first by Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank) before Liquigas' Francesco Chicchi powered past to claim the stage win.

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