First Endurance rider Michael Rogers (HTC-Columbia) moved into the lead of the Tour of Andalusia after finishing fourth in stage four’s time trial in Malaga. Twelve seconds down on stage winner Alex Rasmussen of Denmark, Rogers now leads overall by 19 seconds ahead of Belgium’s Jurgen Van Den Broeck.
“It’s been a long time since I led a stage race. I think the last time was in the Tour of Switzerland back in 2005, so it’s good to be back on the podium again,” Rogers said afterwards. “I’m very happy. I worked hard this winter and changed just about everything I could training-wise, and it seems like the training changes have been working. I had quite good condition in the Tour Down Under, and my next big target is Tirreno-Adriatico, but of course we’ll defend the lead as hard as we can here on the final stage.”

The Tour of Andalusia finishes Thursday with a 161.4-kilometre stage from Torrox to Antequera with several mountain climbs. “We’ve got a good team here, and we’ll do everything we can to bring the race home. It’ll be a tough day throughout, and there’s a climb right at the start and the finish is hard, too. There’ll be a lot of attacks, I’ve got a bit of a buffer overall, 19 seconds, but it’s not over yet by any means.”

General classification after stage 4
1 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team HTC – Columbia 13:52:09
2 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:00:19
3 Sergio Pardilla Bellón (Spa) Carmiooro NGC 0:00:30
4 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank 0:00:31