March 9/13 21:13 pm - Tirreno - Adriatico: Stage 4

Posted by Editoress on 03/9/13
 

After sterling work by his Sky Pro Cycling team-mates, Christopher Froome darted away from cycling’s leading climbers on the slopes of Gran Sasso d’Italia today to win Stage 4 of Tirreno – Adriatico at the mountain finish of Prati di Tivo. He finished 6 seconds ahead of Mauro Santambrogio (Vini Fantini – Selle Italia) and 11 seconds of Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Pro Team).
The final climb saw two stinging attacks by Alberto Contador (Team Saxo – Tinkoff), who was soon joined by Santambrogio and 2012 Tirreno - Adriatico winner Nibali. Froome stayed calm and allowed his mountain domestiques to protect him from the wind until 800m to go, when the Kenya-born Briton flashed across to, and then straight past, the leading three, to take the stage win alone. Alberto Contador finished the stage 6th at 15 seconds. The youthful Michal Kwiatkowski, 4th in the stage, took the Banca Mediolanum Blue Jersey of the overall race leader.

Froome takes the win by an impressive gap over his climbing rivals. Photo LaPresse

 
After the stage, Froome spoke to the press:
 
His team: “We have our style of racing and it’s probably very different from other teams. The guys did a fantastic job for me today to get me to the last kilometer with the freshest legs possible. If you look at the guys ahead or around me, as well as Contador and Nibali, I had Dario Cataldo, who was pulling for a long way, Rigoberto [Urán] & Sergio [Henao].”
Victory overall?: “It’s not going to be easy to win this race. We’ll certainly try to do everything we can to push the limits every day and we end with a 10km time trial where I hope to gain a little time.
Rivals: “I think the main threat comes from the guys who were there in the final km today: Contador, Nibali, Kwiatkowski.”
 
New race leader overall Michal Kwiatkowski also spoke to the press:
 
Today’s stage: “Tirreno – Adriatico was one of my main goals for the beginning of the season, although I didn’t expect to take the leader’s jersey today against champions like Contador, Froome and Nibali. “
 
Overall victory: “I don’t know what to expect from the others, but I will try to keep [the jersey]. I’ll try not to lose time tomorrow or the day after, and in the time trial, which is my speciality, I’ll do my best to gain some seconds.”
 
Youth and expectations: “I rode my first three-week stage race last year at the Giro d’Italia. But I’m still young and, for the moment, I’m targetting one-week stage races. I was second in Tour of Poland last year, which was my main goal of the season.”

RCS press release