Anguita takes centre stage

Spanish racer Eleuterio Anguita won the fourth stage of the Tour of Spain yesterday, with Italian Guidi taking the leader's yellow jersey. Second was Italy's Claudio Camin and Jan Svorada of the Czech Republic was third.

Lars Michaelsen of Denmark, who had been in the lead since the opening stage, tumbled with several other riders as they neared the finish line. Michaelsen finished with the same time as Guidi, but had to surrender the jersey to him because of bonus seconds.

Michaelsen fell for the second time in the race, crashing on a bend close to the finish. He had already fallen in a sprint during the second stage.

Yesterday's stage covered 193km (119 miles) from Huelva and Jerez de la Frontera. It was another flat stage dominated by the sprinters in a mass finish. German Marcel Wust won Sunday's and Monday's second and third stages.

Anguita, who reached the third position in the overall lead, went off in the final kilometre to win from Marco Zanotti, Aart Vierhouten and Laurent Jalabert. Anguita's was the first stage victory for a Spaniard in this year's race.

Today the tour will cover the longest stage, a 229km (142 miles) race from Jerez de la Frontera to the southern coast city of Malaga.