Germany’s John Degenkolb showed he was a force to be reckoned with in the sprints when he claimed the fourth stage of the Criterium du Dauphine on Thursday for his second victory in three days.
HTC-Highroad rider Degenkolb, 22, outpowered Team Sky’s Edvald Boasson Hagen, who took second place after launching his sprint too soon.
Argentine Juan Jose Haedo of Argentina was third for Saxo Bank-Sungard, while Team Sky’s Bradly Wiggins (Team Sky) retained the overall lead at the end of a quiet, 173.5km ride.
“The legs hurt a little bit after yesterday’s time trial, but with two riders breaking away early, it was easy as Garmin-Cervelo did the job,” Wiggins told reporters.
Frenchman Jeremy Roy broke away after only 3km and was soon followed by Italian Adriano Malori, forcing the sprinters’ team to control the situation.
In the final stretch, after the two pace setters were caught with 2km left, Boasson Hagen launched his attack, but he failed to keep up the momentum and Degenkolb easily beat him to the line.
“It was a very tricky final, lots of roundabouts, left, right, speed bumps, a U-turn,” said Degenkolb, who benefited from Garmin-Cervelo’s work in front of the peloton. “Garmin did a great job to catch the breakaway and to set up a good lead-out for Tyler Farrer. I was just behind them.”
“Tony [Martin] brought me in a good position in the end. I began to sprint 200m from the finish line and with 50m left, I passed Boasson Hagen,” added Degenkolb, who is still too green to ride the Tour de France.
Wiggins still leads BMC’s Cadel Evans by 1 minute, 11 seconds in the overall standings as the race enters the mountains.
Radioshack’s Janez Brajkovic, the defending champion, is 10 seconds further back as the top guns use the race to gear up for the Tour de France, which starts on July 2.
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