Third top ten finish for Eisel

Française des Jeux.com's Bernhard Eisel wasn't expecting to do much when he learned he was being nominated to the Tour de France team, but things haven't turned out the way he expected. Wednesday's fourth stage saw the third top ten finish for the Austrian sprinter. "Today was my day, I had great legs," he said.

With 400 meters to go, he was behind Thor Hushovd, whose teammate Julian Dean crashed. "Naturally we all had to avoid him, and Thor forced me over to the left side. I just barely missed the barricade. At that point I had the large gear going and had to do a full brake. So of course I couldn't get back into it. I think I could have had a place in the top five today. Too bad!"

Later it was announced that Hushovd was relegated for cutting Eisel off, Eisel noted that he had not protested the Norwegian's actions. "A fine is ok. He can afford it. Thor Hushovd is fighting for the green jersey. I don't want him to have any problems or lose any points because of me. So that's why i didn't protest," he told Cyclingnews. But Hushovd did lose his position in the end, and a valuable 24 points.