Nicole Cooke sprinted to second spot in the fourth stage of the Tour de l?Aude to Castelnaudary.
A four-woman break featuring Cooke (Vision 1), Marianne Vos (DSB Bank) and two Cervelo riders, Claudia Hausler and Regina Bruin, forged a winning gap of more than two minutes over their seven original breakaway companions to put Bruin in the leader?s yellow jersey.
The Cervelo duo pressed hard in the closing kilometres to maximise their lead, leaving Cooke and Vos to fight out the sprint, but it was the World cyclo-cross champion from Holland who had the legs at the finish.
The Cervelo Test Team had started the 109km stage at a high pace but that did not deter double stage-winner Ina-Yoko Teutenberg from a solo breakaway that gained a maximum of over three minutes.
Teutenberg spent 70km at the head of affairs before the Nurnberger team of race leader Amber Neben brought her back into the fold.
?Cervelo have now got the race in their hands and it will be interesting to see how it is played out,? said Vision 1 team manager Stefan Wyman.
Cooke has now moved up to fourth on general classification. ?She is certainly well into the top ten now, so that is pretty good,? said Wyman. ?And the team protected Vicki Whitlaw in her intermediate sprints jersey, so she has extended her lead in that.?
Briton Emma Pooley remains in the lead of the mountains classification as the ten day tour now moves into the Pyrenees. The next few days' climbs should shake up the overall further still.
RESULTS
Stage four: Castelnaudary-Castelnaudary, 109km in 2-55-13
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) DSB Bank
2. Nicole Cooke (Gbr) Vision 1
3. Claudia Hausler (Ger) Cervelo at 3secs
4. Regina Bruin (Ned) Cervelo at 4secs
5. Emma Johansson (Swe) Red Sun at 2mins 10secs
6. Noëmie Cantele (Ita) Bigla all same time
7. Kristin Armstrong (USA) Cervelo
8. Tina Liebig (Ger) DSB Bank
9. Trixi Worrack (Ger) Nurnberger Versicherrung
10. Susanne Ljunggskog (Swe) Flexpoint
Others
16. Lizzie Armitstead (Gbr) Lotto Belisol
17. Nikki Harris (Gbr) GB
19. Catherine Hare Williamson (Gbr) Fenixs
42. Emma Silversides (Gbr) Lotto Belisol
54. Emma Pooley (Gbr) Cervelo
59. Lucy Martin (Gbr) GB
60. Helen Wyman (Gbr) Vision
65. Katie Colclough (Gbr) GB
69. Leda Cox (Gbr) ESGL93-GSD Gestion
98. Alex Greenfield (Gbr) GB
Abandon
Gabby Day (Gbr) Vision 1
Overall
1. Regina Bruins (Ned) Cervelo
2. Claudia Hausler (Ger) Cervelo at 8secs
3. Marianne Vos (Ned) DSB Bank at 20secs
4. Nicole Cooke (Gbr) Vision at 1min 19secs
RELATED LINKS
Tour de l?Aude Preview
Tour de l?Aude prologue
Tour de l?Aude: Stage 1
Tour de l?Aude: stage two
Tour de l?Aude: stage three
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