Cofidis sweeps Horner aside

Cofidis ended Chris Horner's bid for victory at the Tour de L'Ain on Wednesday when Rein Taaramae led two Cofidis teammates across the finish line at the end of 129.6km stage four atop the Col du Grand Colombiere. Tarramae won with a time of 3:36:58, and David Moncoutie and and Damien Monier were second and third at 30 and 34 seconds respectively.  Horner finished fourth.

Taaramae attacked early on the final climb and caught the leftovers of a break one-by-one until he reached the finish for the stage win and an overall victory. Horner dropped from first to second place in the overall, and Moncoutie was third overall.

"The team was great for me today. I think I was just on vacation a little too long," Horner joked afterward according to the Astana team website. He'd recently taken a break from racing. "But I'm happy with where the form is for the Tour of Spain."

On a warm and sunny day, a 13-rider break formed early in the race and got up to four minutes. Astana, defending Horner's lead, paced the peloton and kept an eye on the clock to ensure the break would not get too much time. The peloton faced four total climbs on the day, and the break began to falter under the strain.  It shrunk to eight and then four riders before getting reeled in.

While Taaramae rode alone following his attack from the peloton, Moncoutié, Monier and Maxime Médérel (Auber 93) chased.