February 20/10 11:20 am - Volta ao Algarve: Stage 4

Posted by Editoress on 02/20/10
 

Team RadioShack’s Sébastien Rosseler won the 4th stage in the Tour of Algarve (Portugal) on Saturday. The Belgian was the strongest rider after a solo effort of 28 kilometres on a demanding stage. In Tavira he had 58 second advantage to 5 other riders who had been part of his original breakaway.

Rosseler was not present in an early breakaway, but jumped to the front group of riders after 40 K of racing. With his companions Iljo Keisse, Preben Vanhecke, Egoi Martínez, Mickael Delage and Imanol Irviti he managed to stay in the front the entire day. The six got to a maximum advantage of 5-minutes, 10-seconds.  Team Astana and HTC-Columbia chased and drew closer but then Rosseler attacked. Nobody could follow the hard rider from Belgium.  He took up to 54 seconds. Delage was the fastest rider of the former breakaway group. The peloton finished at 3 minutes.

“What a surprise!” said Sébastien Rosseler after the stage. “Yesterday I felt so tired, but this morning I was motivated again. I intended to work for Tiago Machado and Levi Leipheimer, to keep them out of the wind but then I saw the opportunity to jump to the breakaway. This was maybe a chance to help the Team to a first victory of the season. We all expected a mass sprint but as Gert Steegmans is not here any more, we knew we had to take other initiatives. I dedicate this victory to Gert anyway. I hope he will get ready for the first races in Belgium next weekend. I am so happy. Thanks to my Team Directors.”

“I told  Séba to attack as the peloton was coming closer,” said Team Director José Azevedo. “It was better to attack when the gap was still 3 minutes than when it was 1 minute. It was hard for Séba, but he is so strong…”

“Never give Rosseler 100 meter advantage. You will not catch him,” added Team Director Dirk Demol. “We saw that he was the strongest rider uphill. With fast guys like Delage and Keisse, we could not take any risk. What a strong guy Rosseler is! The course was very hard, but he impressed us the whole day. I think we have not yet seen the best of him. Séba is one of our key riders for the classics. I think he will be ready for it.”

Team RadioShack press release