Peter Sagan of Slovakia produced a late burst of speed to win the grueling fourth stage of the week-long Tirreno-Adriatico on Saturday, while 40-year-old American Chris Horner took the overall lead to cap a comeback from health problems.
Sagan clocked a marathon-like 7 hours, 24 minutes, 50 seconds over the 252km leg from Amelia to Chieti, which featured a short, but steep uphill finish.
Roman Kreuziger of the Czech Republic crossed second and Sagan’s Liquigas teammate Vincenzo Nibali was third, both with the same time as Sagan.
Danilo Di Luca, the 2007 Giro d’Italia champion, was fourth and Horner, who rides for the RadioShack-Nissan team, was fifth.
The stage was meant to feature another significant climb, but snow and ice on the Lanciano Pass forced organizers to create an alternate route. Still, the steep finish featured two extremely difficult sections, one at grades of 14 to 19 percent for 400m and the other 350m at 15 percent.
Nibali broke away with about 400m to go and when Di Luca was about to chase him down, Sagan then rushed in front.
Horner now holds a seven-second lead over Kreuziger in the overall standings, with Cameron Meyer of Australia third, 13 seconds back.
Horner is racing for the first time since a fall during the eighth stage of last year’s Tour de France, which produced a concussion. He was then diagnosed with an embolism in his lung.
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