Hushovd takes stage as Boom stays in gold

Thor Hushovd won the fourth stage of the Tour of Britain, although Lars Boom retained the leader’s golden jersey.

Garmin Cervelo rider Hushovd finished the 183.7 kilometres stage from Powis Castle, Welshpool, to Caerphilly in four hours 32 minutes 22 seconds.

Rabobank’s Boom was second and Cesare Benedetti of Team NetApp was third, with Motorpoint’s Ian Bibby the first Briton home in fourth. Despite finishing outside the top 10 in a sprint finish, Welshman Geraint Thomas was in the lead group and moved up to second overall in the Tour on a good day for the Team Sky rider.

The 25-year-old Olympic team pursuit gold medallist trails Boom by 12 seconds and relished the strong support from his countrymen as he continued his bid to deliver a British winner of the general classification.

Thomas said: “It was great to be back racing in Wales. It was a tough stage with fine weather. The aim for the team was to attack and put Lars Boom and Rabobank under as much pressure as possible. Tactically we wanted to ride with a high tempo again.

“We just tried to go as fast and hard as possible at Caerphilly hill. I went quite deep at the foot of the climb when Steve went to test Lars. Unfortunately he stayed with me and it was a bit of cat and mouse all the way up the hill. The run in at the finish had a tight corner with 200 metres to go. I don’t have the kick of a Hushovd or Boom so I tried to get into that final corner first to get a bit of an advantage and momentum.

“Unfortunately, Thor just sneaked ahead and took the racing line. It was nothing illegal, just racing, but I lost my speed and that was race over.”

Thomas told Team Sky’s website: “It would have been great to win today to pay back the fans who made a great effort to come out and see the race. The support all day, especially on the climbs was absolutely fantastic.”