Stetina Tour de l'Avenir yellowDominating and driving the action during today’s stage 4 of the 2008 Tour de l’Avenir in France, Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O stagiaire Peter Stetina continued to demonstrate his talents as one of cycling’s top young stars.

Only 19 km in to the 181.5 km stage, Peter joined a strong five-man breakaway. Pushing the pace over all of the day’s six categorized climbs, Peter kept the group moving and built their lead on the peloton to more than 10 minutes. On the descent off the Col de Lestival, he attacked his four break-mates and quickly built up a gap of 1′05. Though a serious headwind prompted Peter to reconsider and he waited up for and rejoined his hard-chasing break buddies.

Tour de l'Avenir stage 4 profileKeeping the pace high into the final stretch, the break managed to finish with a three minute gap on the peloton, allowing Peter to take over the yellow leader’s jersey by a significant 2′27″ on French rider Jerome Coppel.

“Today was the day I had planned to attack. The profile of this stage suited me and my legs felt good,” said Peter. “I felt so good that I wanted to go off solo with 40 km to go (on the Col de Lestival). But once I hit that headwind, I realized it would be crazy to persist. So I waited for the others and we worked together well to hold as much of a gap as possible on the peloton.”

“It was worth it. I have the jersey with a nice gap and I am going to try to keep it until the very end.”

Peter is also ranked 3rd overall in the points and mountain classifications while his American team is 3rd in the overall team classification.

Stage 4 results for American riders
1. Ricardo Van Der Velde (PAYS-BAS) 5h02′11″
4. Peter Stetina (USA) +13″
7. Tom Peterson (USA) +3′16″
23. Tejay Van Gaderen (USA) +3′21″
49. Chad Beyer (USA) +4′18″
51. Kirk Carlsen (USA) +4′18″
84. Chris Barton (USA) +23′16″

General classification for American riders
1. Peter Stetina (USA) 19h07′09″
2. Jerome Coppel (FRA) +2′27″
3. Ben Hermans (BEL) +2′33″
14. Tom Peterson (USA) +3′15″
19. Tejay Van Gaderen (USA) +3′32″
45. Chad Beyer (USA) +6′36″
55. Kirk Carlsen (USA) +9′13″
83. Chris Barton (USA) +31′53″

*Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O and VMG/Felt riders in bold.*