SAINT ETIENNE, France, March 11, 2009 (AFP) – American Christian Vande Velde, riding for Garmin, won the fourth stage of the Paris-Nice race here on Wednesday, a 173.5km ride from Vichy to Saint Etienne.

Sylvain Chavanel of France, riding for Quick Step, retained the overall lead.

Vande Velde, who finished fifth in last year’s Tour de France, broke away from the rest of the field to finish 15 seconds ahead of a group containing Spanish pre-race favourite Alberto Contador of the Astana team.

France’s Jonathan Hivert finished second behind the 32-year-old American, just ahead of the Italian Mirco Lorenzetto in third.

One day after taking over the yellow jersey, Chavanel lost 30 seconds on some of his main rivals, including Contador, after being outpaced in the final climb.

In the overall standings, Chavanel has a lead of just six seconds over Spain’s Juan Manuel Garate, with Contador 36 seconds off the pace in fourth.

Chavanel reported afterwards it had not been easy over the closing stages.

“I suffered at the end,” he said. “But looking at my average heart rate of
155 during the stage, I now know why! I was really happy to keep the yellow jersey particularly out of respect for my teammates. It’s great to have another day in yellow.

“I’ll try to save myself as much as possible and to recover properly from day to day. Even if I eventually lose this jersey I will try to win a stage at least.”

Thursday’s fifth stage is a hilly 204km ride between Annonay and Vallon-Pont-d’Arc.

Photo’s by: CorVos Pro