Vandborg takes TdG stage 4

Coming into Dahlonega, there was a short steep climb up to the 1 kilometer to ride mark.

Marco Pinotti attacked, and Viatcheslav Ekimov followed, shadowed by CSC's Brian Vandborg and Jason McCartney, all of whom got a small gap on the field.

Vandborg led Ekimov across the finish line, with Pinotti back a bit, then McCartney, then the chasers' group of 20-22.

Rubiera takes over the King of the Mountains jersey.

Landis was in that group, and should lose time only to the top 4 riders of the day.

That means tomorrow will be THE crucial day for this tour. Organizers actually made the toughest stage of the TdG even tougher this year, with four King of the Mountains lines and a shorter route between the last three, so they come one after another.

I think it's pretty notable that neither Jose Azevedo nor Tom Danielson were unholstered today; look for them to factor heavily in the Disco strategy tomorrow.

Preliminary stage Top 10:
1) Brian Vandborg, CSC
2) Viatchdslav Ekimov, Discovery
3) Marco Pinotti, Saunier Duval/Prodir
4) Jason McCartney, Discovery Channel
5) Bobby Julich, CSC
6) Mauro Santambrogio, Team LPR
7) Lance Armstrong, Discovery
8) Floyd Landis, Phonak
9) Sven Krauss, Gerolsteiner
10) Daniele Contrini, Team LPR

Overall after Stage 4:

1) Floyd Landis, Phonak
2) David Zabriskie, CSC, at :19
3) Bobby Julich, CSC, at :28
4) Levi Leipheimer, Gerolsteiner, at :50
5) Tom Danielson, Discovery, at 1:00
6) Viatcheslav Ekimov, Discovery, at 1:13
7) Brian Vandborg, CSC, at 1:39
8) Lance Armstrong, Discovery, at 1:42
9) Jose Azevedo, Discovery, at 1:53
10) Danny Pate, Jelly Belly-Pool Gel, at 2:12

Also:

ThePaceline.com (free reg. required) | Tour de Georgia, Stage 4 Race Report