Rosseler rolls to solo stage win

Sebastien Rosseler soloed to victory in the Volta ao Algarve's fourth stage, arriving in Tavira 20 seconds ahead of four former breakaway companions to secure Team RadioShack's first win.

The 28-year-old Belgian attacked his five fellow escapees with 28 kilometres remaining and built up a lead of 54 seconds. Iljo Keisse (Quick Step) was dropped from the break, but the remaining quartet of Mickael Delage (Omega Pharma - Lotto), Imanol Erviti (Caisse d'Epargne), Preben Van Hecke (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) and Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel - Euskadi) worked to reduce Rosseler's lead. The quartet's pursuit of Rosseler chipped into the Belgian's advantage, but fell 20 seconds short as Delage bested Erviti for second place.

Keisse finished alone in sixth place 2:50 behind Rosseler, narrowly avoiding being absorbed by the peloton led in by André Greipel (Team HTC - Columbia) 10 seconds later.

"What a surprise!" said Rosseler after notching his seventh win as a professional. "Yesterday I felt so tired, but this morning I was motivated again. I intended to work for Tiago Machado and Levi Leipheimer, to keep them out of the wind, but then I saw the opportunity to jump to the breakaway. This was maybe a chance to help the team to its first victory of the season.

"We all expected a mass sprint but as Gert Steegmans is not here any more, we knew we had to take other initiatives. I dedicate this victory to Gert anyway. I hope he will get ready for the first races in Belgium next weekend. I am so happy."

Calm day for GC contenders

The 169km penultimate stage was a relatively quiet affair for those seeking overall victory as the top of the general classification remained unchanged from the previous day. Alberto Contador (Astana) defended his yellow jersey and leads the Team RadioShack duo of Tiago Machado and Levi Leipheimer by 15 and 28 seconds respectively.

A six-man break formed after 20km of racing containing Mickael Delage (Omega Pharma - Lotto), Frederic Guesdon (Française Des Jeux), Preben Van Hecke (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator), Lars Boom (Rabobank), Iljo Keisse (Quick Step) and Eduard Vorganov (Team Katusha). There was a slight shuffling in the leading sextet over the day's first categorised climb at kilometre 53. Guesdon, Boom and Vorganov were dropped but replaced by Sebastien Rosseler (Team RadioShack), Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel - Euskadi) and Imanol Erviti (Caisse d'Epargne) who bridged to the leaders.

Erviti, who started the day 5:11 behind Contador, posed the only real danger in the break to the Spaniard's overall lead. The six-man break reached a maximum advantage of 5:10, coming within one second of erasing Erviti's deficit to Contador, but the Astana team steadily reduced the escapees' advantage and nullified the threat.

Only one stage remains in the Vuelta ao Algarve: Sunday's 17.2km individual time trial. Alberto Contador won the time trial in last year's Volta ao Algarve to cement his overall win and should be expected to duplicate the result this year.

It remains to be seen, however, if a last-minute switch in time trial bikes has an effect on the Spaniard. On Friday the UCI banned the time trial bike to be used by Contador and his Astana teammates, the Specialized Shiv, and the team is rushing to set up a different model for all eight Astana riders for Sunday's race of truth.