Stage Four...

Stage Four:
1st: Robbie McEwen - Australia - Lotto - 4:59:50
2nd: Issac Galvez - Spain - Caisse d'Epargne - 4:59:50
3rd: Oscar Freire - Spain - Rabobank - 4:59:50

Overall:
1st: Tom Boonen - Belgium - Quickstep - 19:52:13
2nd: Michael Rogers - Austrailia - T-Mobile (+:01)
3rd: George Hincapie - USA - Discovery (+ :05)
Other notables:
*5th: Egoi Martinez - Spain - Discovery (+ :10)
7th:Paolo Savoldelli - Italy - Discovery (+ :15)
9th: Floyd Landis - USA - Phonak (+ :16)
*13th: Cadel Evans - Australia - Lotto - (+ :20)
17th:Dave Zabriskie - USA - CSC (+ :23)
18th: Andreas Kloden - Germany - T-Mobile (+ :24)
22st: Bobby Julich - USA - CSC (+ :25)
24rd: Yaroslav Popovich - Ukraine - Discovery (+ :27)
27th: Levi Leipheimer - USA - Gerolsteiner (+ :28)
98th: Jens Voight - Germany - CSC (+ 1:39)

Yellow Jersey (Overall Leader): Tom Boonen
Green Jersey(Top Points Earner): Robbie McEwen
White Jersey(Best Young Rider): Marcus Fothen (Germany)
Red Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountain): Jerome Pineau (France)
Yellow Numbers (Best Team): Discovery
Red Number (Most Competitive): Egoi Martinez (Spain)

As for as the Tour goes today was rather uneventful. Maybe that's because I was kind of tired and kept dosing off, but I don't know. The field was down to 172 racers, three riding injured, including USA rider Christopher Horner with a dislocated finger and sprinter Stuart O'Grady with a cracked veretebrae. Unfortunately for O'Grady, today was another sprinter's stage. This one, unlike yesterday played out like one. It was an uphill finish, perfect for McEwen. He won this one by several feet. Boonen seemed to give up early into the sprint. He just can't quite get his timing right to take a stage so far this year. Regardless, he kept the yellow jersey. No major crashes today, which is good. One guy went down right at the end, but no one else got caught up, and several Spanish riders got into an accident coming around a tight turn but no one was hurt there. The * today are people that I forgot, once again would be major contenders, particularly Cadel Evans. He hasn't done anything remarkable thus far, but he isn't a sprinter, either. As for Martinez, he's another Discovery guy. In addition to my being quite particular to Team Discovery Channel, he's part of team manager Johan Bruyneel's apparent new plan. With no more Lance as a clear cut leader, he's using a tactic formerly employed by the Russian team, where individual team members 'leapfrog' as a way of keeping people guessing who the actual leader is. Expect different Discovery members to be parts of breakaways all week creating a powerhouse team. There are 4 Discovery racers in the top 25 right now and all can be expected to continue to perform well in the mountains. Tomorrow is yet another day for sprinters...I want mountains and time trials, dammit. Then the real race contenders will start to sorty themselves out. Unfortunately, tomorrow is back to work for me and play practice and Pirates at night, so catching the stage will be tough. Have no fear, though - I'll find a way