Stage 4

Yikes, that was a nasty climb up to the finish. The fragile one eeked out a stage win over a grimacing and hard charging El Pistolero. Had he not reached for down for the imaginary gun he uses for his stupid little trademark victory salute, Clenbutador might have pulled off the win. As it is, he had to settle for second. I do like the sound of that.

Over in the FGBC Pool, Halberto won the stage and padded his overall lead. He had 275 points on the day thanks to contributions from Uran, Hushovd, Kloden, Rojas, and Hesjedal. A very well-rounded, blue collar effort, demonstrating that picking the big stars doesn't always pay big dividends. Halberto extends his lead up to 26 points over Brad the Impaler, who continued his strong early showing with a second-place performance at Mûr de Bretagne. The Halfrican grabbed the final podium spot by pipping the Fraggle at the line. But it's not all bad news for our bellicose little red muppet. She's moved up into third-place overall. Halberto and the Impaler are threatening to run away with it, though. The Fraggle is almost 200 points back.

Paul has handed off the lanterne rouge to Marc, another vicarious racing rookie.

Full results and overalls standings here.