2006 Tour de France - Stage 4

Those of us in the USA are off our holiday after enjoying some starbursts in the night sky. The smoke residue filtered throughout the neighborhood but don?t worry, I didn?t inhale!

No day off for the peloton but they seem relaxed. Today?s course is more conducive to that. Then Discovery sends out Martinez on an attack. He gaps and draws four other racers. After nearly a five minute lead, some Quick Stepping racers decide to get closer. Nice job Egoi who scores a hat trick in the sprint bonuses. Etxebarria fell down earlier but a more significant crash has toppled some racers. Mayo is one of them who is back on and getting a team escort.

As the break is dissolved, the sprinters begin to morph. Oh no, good guy Zabel runs out of gas (or his tire does anyway). Then Dean crashes but I don?t know why. I?m sure his Tour de France diary at Roadcycling.com will give us the story. Robbie takes off like a V-10 turbo charged Formula 1 car! Fantastic job Robbie ?the McClaren? McEwen. It is amazing to see him create a gap like that among world class sprinters.

Now wait, my editor Thomas tells me there is some talk among the commissar?s. Did Thor finish 3^rd or 4^th? What was Dean doing when he crashed? Is Thor being relegated to last in the group? This has the makings of a FUBAR situation for sure. Maybe Thor is still angry about stage 2 and enlisted the help of Dean to ?even? things up? My deadline is here so I hope Thomas can sort this out for us. Keep checking Roadcycling.com for the latest.

Like or dislike Dave's dribbles? Got further info to add? Send Dave an email at info@roadcycling.com.

Check out our 2006 Tour de France coverage section for live updates, rider diaries, virtual stage maps (in live updates section) and more.