63rd Paris-Nice - ProTour 2005: Stage 4

Welcome back to Cyclingnews' live coverage of Paris-Nice, where each

The other non-starter today was Austrian Georg Totschnig (Gerolsteiner).

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The peloton is hanging together at the moment, racing along in the sunshine(!)

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The roads are fairly wide here, and the bunch is spread out with 10-12 riders

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There's an attack with 1 km to go to the top of the Cote de Puy-St-Martin. Fred

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Bessy and Muravyev are caught on the descent, and the peloton is back together

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Rabobank and CSC keep the pressure on at the foot of the descent, and the peloton

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The bunch reaches the sprint at Cleon-d'Andran with CSC and Fassa doing a long

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The pace continues in the peloton after the sprint, as Marc Lotz finds his way

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Vinokourov's group numbers seven, containing Voigt, Schleck, Chavanel, Merckx.

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Voigt is doing some monstrous turns as he tries to make this break stick. Schleck

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The gap is 10 seconds to the lead group of Jens Voigt, Frank Schleck (CSC),

The break is working nicely now as all seven riders do their turns. It's a really

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Voigt and Vino are the driving forces behind the break, which is making good

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Liberty, Rabobank and Quick.Step are the teams doing the chasing. Well, it's

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The second peloton is losing ground. It has several Phonak and FDJ riders in

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J

Jaksche is taking a group away from the peloton, which is splitting to bits

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In the front group, Voigt continues to work hard, keeping the peloton at 10

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Yesterday's winner Vicente Reynes (Illes Balears) is in the third group on the

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Voigt goes again on the descent, trying to keep the tempo up. The rest of the

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The descent is very fast, and not two technical. The second bunch is about 10

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A third group, with Hayman (Rabobank) is 15 seconds behind the second group,

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The pace eases right off as CSC assumes the position on the front row. Boonen

The last 2 km of today's stage is a little bit technical. With 2 km to, there

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Nicolas Jalabert (Phonak) and Iker Camano (Euskaltel) are 5 seconds clear of

The peloton is not doing a whole lot at the moment, as Jalabert, Camano and

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The leaders reach 20 km to go with a 35 second lead over the peloton. They're

Portal takes over with 500m to the summit, then Camano and Jalabert. In the

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Jalabert weaves his bike all over the road to take the points on the climb ahead

The bunch has closed the gap a little as the leaders bash their heads against

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CSC is now helping Fassa chase. They don't want to let these three get too far

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Fassa has five riders in front with Kirchen a couple further back. It's racing

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Jalabert, Camano and Portal continue to work together. They need a descent.

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The descent begins at last, and Jaja and Portal put some time into Camano. The

Camano is not definitively dropped, but he's having a lot of trouble with these

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Camano is now stranded between the peloton and the break. He won't get back

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Portal and Jalabert have 5 seconds to Camano and 15 seconds to the peloton.

It's still Fassa leading the peloton as it reaches the foot of the descent.

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The group catches Portal and Jalabert, and now there are nine. Julich (CSC),

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Kirsipuu drives the break now with 9 km to go. It's a dangerous one, especially

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The bunch is now lined out, led by two Lotto riders. They aren't getting much

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Jaksche does a turn now, then Kirsipuu. They have 12 seconds. Julich is sitting

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Lotto and Quick.Step are doing the chasing in the peloton, which is getting

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The leaders reach 5 km to go with a nice 15 second gap. Flecha and Cancellara

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The bunch is picking up speed, but is not 100 percent organised. Boonen's team

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Jaksche takes over, then Kirsipuu, who has to be a favourite for this stage.

The chase has died a bit. Lotto seems to be doing most of it, and wants more

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25 seconds with about 2 km to go. The Fassas in the front group know that they

They're in Mont

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They reach the Flamme Rouge. Flecha, Kirsipuu and Cancellara, who tries to surprise

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Kirsipuu takes the lead now with 400m out. But Cancellara wins!! Kirsipuu second.