2012 Tirreno-Adriatico, Stage 4 Results

Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) won the 4th stage of Tirreno–Adriatico, Amelia–Chieti, 251 km, in which he passed a surprised but fading Vincenzo Nibali, his teammate, in the final meters on the uphill finish. Second was Roman Kreuziger (Astana Pro Team) followed by Nibali.

American Chris Horner became the new Maglia Azzurra.


"The best option for the team's victory today was Nibali and I tried to encourage it until the last moment," said Sagan. "I pushed on the final climb, then I slowed down for him. When Di Luca attacked I closed the gap, then I thought Vincent was able to deal with our opponents. On the final straight I heard them catching up and at that moment I thought only of the good of the team: not winning would be a great sin. I'm sorry for Vincenzo, we are a united group and among us there are absolutely no problems. Tomorrow we will have a hard stage and I'll be at his disposal to help him."


Chris Horner is one of the oldest riders in the peloton at 40 yeras old. Horner, who is famous for the number of hamburgers he eats, has only just returned to racing after suffering a serious injury during the seventh stage of the 2011 Tour de France that was followed by a pulmonary embolism.

Chris Horner after the race said, "I'm sure many people have doubted my physical condition after the accident but I proved today that it has not impacted my performance. Earlier this year the team asked me what races I wanted to participate in and I immediately said to Dirk Demol (sporting director) that the Tirreno - Adriatico was my big goal. Kreuziger is close in the standings (2nd at 0:00:07) and both of us climb and time trial well so it's going to be a good battle. But, that's okay because it makes the race much more interesting.".


Tomorrow's stage could decide the race. The peloton will reach Prati di Tivo after 196 km. This climb is 14.5 km long with an average gradient of 7% but 5.8 km into the climb the gradient is 12%. Michele Scarponi and teammate Alessandro Spezialetti spent the last day of 2011 riding the Prati di Tivo climb so that Scarponi could become familiar with it.

Before Prati di Tivo, there is another climb at Piano Roseto, 20.8 km long with an average gradient of 4.7%.

AMELIA – CHIETI
Top three results:
Peter Sagan (Liquigas Cannondale) in 7h 24’ 50”
Roman Kreuziger (Astana Pro Team) s.t.
Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas – Cannondale) s.t.

Top 10 GC:
1 Christopher Horner (USA) RadioShack-Nissan 19:01:54
2 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Astana Pro Team 0:00:07
3 Cameron Meyer (Aus) GreenEdge Cycling Team 0:00:13
4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:00:21
5 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Acqua & Sapone 0:00:22
6 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) RadioShack-Nissan 0:00:30
7 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:32
8 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:00:34
9 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team 0:00:35
10 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:36

Maglia Azzurra – Classifica generale (GC): Christopher Horner (Radioshack Nissan Trek)
Maglia Bianca – Classifica giovani (Young Rider): Cameron Meyer (GreenEdge Cycling Team)
Maglia Rossa – Classifica a punti (Points): Peter Sagan (Sky Procycling)
Maglia Verde – Classifica GPM (KOM): Stefano Pirazzi (Colnago – CSF Inox)

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