Croc Trophy: Huber takes control on stage 4, Van Vleuten loses race lead

Three-time Crocodile Trophy winner Urs Huber bounced back from the disappointment of a mechanical in the finale of stage 3 to take his second stage win of 2016. The Swiss rider remains the overall race leader with stage 3 winner Sebastien Carabin (Merida-Wallonie-Vojo Mag) sitting second overall.

In the women's race, Annemiek Van Vleuten suffered as the race leader took a wrong turn and saw her large lead in the morning become a 1:04:22 deficit to the winner Alice Pirard. The Belgian becomes the new race leader with half the race to come.

"The stage was not too difficult but got a bit tight at the 35km mark when I had a flat tyre. Bas Peters just flew past me and Sebastien Carabin went with him. I had to bridge the gap which was about a minute and managed to do so right before the flat part in the middle of the stage," Huber said of of his second stage win in four days. "Well, I think it wasn't very fair to attack when I had the mechanical, which I told them. Then I had another flat tyre and they waited for me, which I thought was very sportsman-like. Towards the finish Sebastien and I were equally strong, we didn't attack each other anymore and I was actually happy after two flats to being able to stay with him. I was able to claim the stage in a finish sprint."

For Pirard, to take her third win of the race and move into the leader's jersey was a surprise as she explained.

"I'm surprised that Annemiek is not here, she must have taken a wrong turn or crashed, because I heard during the race that she had a big gap, like 15 or 20 minutes. I hope she's ok and that she will come soon," she said. "For me it was a hard day, I was kind of in survival mode because I'm getting tired... just surviving in the forest. I did enjoy the last singletrack downhill though, that was really nice. We'll see.

"The next stages coming up are all really fast and rolling, which doesn't suit me generally, because I like the technical stages, but well, I'm so tired and in survival mode right now."

Stage 5 is the longest of the race at 131km with the riders to travel from Atherton to the Skybury Coffee Plantation.

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