García scores first breakaway of the year

Ricardo García finally made sure Euskaltel put their name on the map in today's fourth stage of the Etoile de Bessèges - but the team once again came away empty handed.

Euskaltel have been suspiciously absent from the breaks so far this season, but García picked the right one today to ensure the orange jersey was represented in the thick of the action over the 154km leg from Sabran to Pont Saint Lary. And initially it looked like a good move. Several strong riders, Lieuwe Westra, Pierrick Fédrigo and Jérémy Roy among them, were in there, but Europcar, the team of overall leader Jérôme Cousin, weren't keen to let them get out of sight and held them on a tight leash.

Eventually they were caught with more than 80 clicks to go, and from there on Galdeano's men kept a low profile.

Bryan Coquard once again proved he's a star in the making by taking the sprint - his second of the race - while the Euskaltel riders rolled in mid-pack. Adrián Sáez posted a DNF, but it's at the time unknown what led him to abandon the race.

The race concludes tomorrow with two "half"-stages: a flat 69-click ride in the morning, then another 9,7 against the clock later on. 

Results (full results here):

• (1, Bryan Coquard (Europcar), 3:53:36)
• 22, Rubén Pérez, s.t.
• 30, Jure Kocjan, s.t.
• 56, Ricardo Mestre, s.t.
• 57, Romain Sicard, s.t.
• 62, Pablo Urtasun, s.t.
• 106, Ricardo García, 0:15

General classification:

• (1, Jérôme Cousin (Europcar), 14:43:07)
• 33, Romain Sicard, 0:48
• 54, Jure Kocjan, 1:04
• 60, Pablo Urtasun, s.t.
• 87, Ricardo Mestre, 1:52
• 117, Rubén Pérez, 12:59
• 120, Ricardo García, 13:33