Greig Leach

Cycling is not like baseball, they will race in virtually anything Mother Natures throws at them. The only exception to that is if the roads are too icy to be safe for the riders to make the fast paced descents that are the reward for the seemingly impossible climbs. However, technology is not as versatile. With low lying clouds, rain and snow, the moto cameras weren't able to bounce their signals to the helicopters or the plans, the helicopters couldn't get under the cloud cover to show the riders, so today was TV free racing. The only images available were from fixed cameras station near the finish line right next to the production vehicles. So here is the only painting of Stage 4 of the Volta Catalunya, and for us Americans, it was a nice one to get. TeJay Van Garderen (BMC) showed that he is back from early season illness and in to his Alp d'Huez form as he slipped by Romain Bardet (AG2R) for the stage win. Rodriquez kept the leader's jersey and the rest of the GC simply tightened up the time gaps. So there is a lot of racing yet to come.