Stage Four

German rider Stefan Schumacher pulled off the ride of his career to take first place in the first of the two individual time trials.

Cholet - Cholet (ITT), 29.5km

German rider Stefan Schumacher pulled off the ride of his career to take first place in the first of the two individual time trials. Schumacher held off his more fancied rivals Kim Kirchen (Columbia), David Millar (Garmin-Chipotle), Cadel Evans and Fabien Cancellara to claim first place and the yellow jersey in the process.

Cadel Evans was pleased with his ride. He put seven seconds into Menchov, around a minute into Cunego (Lampre) and Frank Schleck (CSC), as well as 1:07 on Valverde.

“It is a good start but it is a long, long way to Paris,” said Cadel Evans. “In my mind this is the first appointment for the GC favourites. So far so good.”

Results
1 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner 35.44
2 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia 0.18
3 David Millar (GBr) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30
4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 0.27
5 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 0.33

Overall classification after stage 4:

1 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner 14.04.41
2 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia 0.12
3 David Millar (GBr) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30
4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 0.21
5 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 0.33