Cycling: Bennati stays out of trouble to retain lead in Tour of Spain

(EPA)

The Tour of Spain leader Daniele Bennati avoided a late crash to win the fourth stage from Cordoba to Puertollano yesterday. The Italian Liquigas rider finished more than a bike length clear of the Belgian Tom Boonen, with the Spaniard Koldo Fernandez de Larrea third. Bennati remains overall leader with Boonen second at 22 seconds and Alejandro Valverde of Spain in third at 48 seconds.

A high-speed crash some three kilometres from the line caused the bunch to shatter, with only eight riders participating in the final sprint. "I didn't see the crash and I could do my sprint just as I wanted," Bennati said. "My team-mates did a perfect job of leading me through to the finish, in this team it's a real case of 'all for one and one for all'. I got ahead with 800 metres to go and kept my line right the way to the finish."

The winner of three stages of the Tour of Spain in 2007, Bennati said he would "be satisfied with just one more win". "I didn't do well earlier this season and I couldn't do the Tour de France because of health problems, but I've bounced back here with a vengeance."

The leading overall favourites Carlos Sastre and Alberto Contador of Spain were both delayed by the incident, but only suffered slight injuries. "The crash happened just in front of me and I ended up colliding with a team mate," Contador said. "I hit my knee against something, but I think I'm all right. It was supposed to be a straightforward stage, but then something like this happens."

The Astana rider Contador starts today's 42-km time trial in Ciudad Real as favourite, but he was cautious about his chances. "It's not a particularly good route for me and I'm not going for the win," he said. "If I get some kind of advantage over the climbers, then I'll be happy."

The Tour of Spain finishes in Madrid on 21 September.

In Germany, the home rider Andre Greipel won a mass sprint at the end of the Tour of Germany's 174km fourth stage from Wiesloch to Mainz yesterday.

The Columbia team sprinter produced a surge over the last 100 metres to beat the Australian Robbie McEwen and fellow German Robert Forster. Another Columbia rider from Germany, Linus Gerdemann, retained the overall lead at the end of the short, flat stage. He was 17 seconds in front of the Swede Thomas Lovkvist. The Frenchman Thomas Voeckler and the Belgian Tom Stubbe went clear early on but were caught with seven kilometres to go.

Columbia worked the mass sprint perfectly as Gerald Ciolek led Greipel towards the line. Greipel has had his best season by far in 2008, winning four stages in the Tour Down Under, one in the Giro d'Italia and another last week in the Eneco Tour.