Stage 4 padania

It has been another great day for liquigas cannondale here at the tour of padania on stage 4 with an emphatic victory by our team caption, Ivan basso. Today was the only mt top finish so therefore was always going to shape the GC and it was Ivan who proved to be the strongest of the mountain goats. By virtue of his 52second victory he also takes the overall GC lead so we have the jersey to defend again for the second time this week and on the final stage 5 tomorrow as we head from trento to venice, the scenic way i am told.

For me it was a pretty quiet day, my role was to stay with ivan aslong as i could on the climbs but after the previous days on the front i was well aware i was not going to be climbing with the best of them today. Elia viviani showed his versitility and was present in the days breakaway and although it was swept up on the first of the 2 major climbs for the day elia survived in the front along with danial oss and myself to occompany Ivan to the base of the final climb. I made sure he had plenty of fresh fluids for the final climb and once it kicked up with just inside 10km to go my time at the front came to an end and Ivan was alone but fortunately in quite a small group and as he proved very capable of looking after himself. Soon after he shredded the field to just 5 and from there one by one they dropped off his wheel until he was alone for final 5km. I was aware he was infront when i hit 7km to go so started saving my biscuits for anticipating him taking the jersey and just after passing the 3km to go sign i was told of his victory so was a very enjoyable final part of the climb in anticpation of defending his lead tomorrow which i am pretty confident will require me to spend some more time on the front. So all in all was a great day, i would have loved to help him more in the final climb but after the previous days work on the front my climbing musles simply desserted me so i just had to contribute in any way i could and fortunately i was of some help. Best on groud was certainly elia for his ride in the break, survival in the front group till the final climb, winning the days intermediate sprint and extending his points jersey lead and doing all this after alread winning one stage and finishing 2nd in 2 others so definately hats off to him. Time for some rest, cant wait for the final stage tomorrow and finally getting the opportunity to defend the lead of my great friend, team mate and training partner mr Ivan Basso.

SRM data
Time 4hrs 45min
Speed 40kmph average
Power 264watt average
Altitude gain 2000m
Heart rate 147average
Energy burnt 4700kj

Cjw
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