Breschel wins stage 4 while Andy can't get the leader jersey for just 2 seconds (post including a video of Schleck talking German):

Today's stage at TdS was surprisingly exciting and important also for the riders who are involved in the fight for winning the GC of the race.
After few kms,26 riders escaped from the group.They were Ivan Santaromita (Liquigas),Oliver Zaugg (Liquigas),Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo TestTeam),Andrey Amador Bipkazacova (Caisse d'Epargne),Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step),Tony Martin (Columbia-Highroad),Sergey Klimov (Katusha),Matti Breschel (Saxo Bank),Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank),Maxim Iglinsky (Astana), Dmitriy Muravyev (Astana),Françis De Greef (Silence-Lotto),Greg Van Avermaet (Silence-Lotto),Johan Van Summeren (Silence-Lotto),Markel Irizar (Euskaltel-Euskadi),Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre-NGC),Huub Duyn (Garmin-Slipstream),Alexander Efimkin (AG2R La Mondiale),Tadej Valjavec (AG2R La Mondiale),Jérémy Roy (Française des Jeux),Maryan Hary (Cofidis),Johannes Fröhlinger (Milram),Thomas Rohregger (Milram),Peter Velits (Milram), Robert Kiserlovski (Fuji) and Silvère Ackermann (Vorarlberg-Corratec).

Lots of nice guys,as you can see.Oliver Zaugg yesterday said "Don't understimate me,I may be a good alternative to Kreuziger in the GC fight".De Greef,Van Avermaet and Van Summeren were welcomed by my entusiasm,since they are 3 good guys.Especially De Greef is a good rider: he was 21st in the last Giro d'Italia.Then there were Ackermann,a Swiss guy who attacks every single day,and Bipkazacova: this boy deserves to be mentioned just because of his surname. He may be a very good contender for the title of "greatest surname in the peloton",competition in which he may compete against the likes of Konovalovas,the Schleck brothers and Szmyd.

Then of course I was super happy to see both Breschel and Andy in front.

Anyway.With about 25 kms to go,there were just 9 boys left at the head of the race:Zaugg,Andy (Oh happiness),Breschel,Valjavec,Iglinsky,Velits,Rohregger,A.Efimkin and Kiserlovski.

They managed to get 3 minutes of advantage on the leader group with about 20 kms to go,but then Columbia,Francais des Jeux (why?),Astana and other teams began to chase them in a more determined way.My passion for stupid theory tells me that Kim Kirchen might have been involved in the decision suddenly taken by the Columbia guys,aka "Let's chase the boys of the breakaway even if they've got 3 minutes of advantage!".And I don't think the reason is that KK wants to win the overall classification.Anyway.

The problem for Andy Schleck now was that he had to gain at least 52 seconds on Cancellara if he wanted to become the new race leader.Valjavec instead needed just 49 seconds.Andy decided to solve the problem by winning 2 intermediate sprints but then during the final sprint (and after some attacks made by Valjavec himself and by Velits) the Ag2r rider managed to arrive 3rd and to gain 4 seconds on the other riders of the GC (Andy included).And so the leader jersey went to Valjavec (who had also arrived 3rd at a intermediate sprint) for just 2 seconds.It could have gone worse for Andy if Super Matti Breschel (who made a great stage,the work he did for Andy was just unbelievable) wouldn't have been there ready to win the stage in front of Iglinsky and Valjavec."The perfect scenario would have been Andy and Gustav in the break to have one more in the GC and to save strength in the front group.We stayed away from the wind on the first 150 kilometres and that is one of the benefits of having the yellow jersey in the peloton.In the final I barely managed to pull my self over the last climb.Finally I was unsure whether I could take the stage when I closed a gap 400 meters to go with a huge series of cramps as a result.200 meters from the line Iglinsky,my worst competitor,fortunately opened the sprint and eventually I could squeeze myself by him”,said Matti Breschel after the stage.

Iglinsky really wanted to win today's stage: "I had to win this stage. I was convinced I could win it because the other fast rider in the group, Breschel, had to work the whole day for Schleck. This was my chance and then in the final metres Breschel came back. I don't think I will sleep well. I wanted to win. It is one year ago that I won."

Talking about Andy,here's a video with him speaking German and wearing the sprint leader jersey: http://www.tds.ch/videocenter/?rs0051 .Andy speaking German is sooo cute!!! "Neeeee"...It reminds me of the good old times up in Voigt-Land...Anyway,a little translation of his interview would sound like "Yes,today I wanted to get the yellow jersey,I lost it just for 2 seconds but,well,I can still get it tomorrow.Btw I think the balance for the team is good: we've won the stage and I'm seond in the GC".

If you're interested,there's an interview with Valjavec on this link: http://www.tds.ch/videocenter/?rs0049 .A little translation? Here it is:"I'm super happy ("super super super gluecklich") right now.I decided to enter the breakaway because I saw that there was Andy Schleck in it and so I thought that maybe the main group would have let us arrive at the finish-line.Especially at the beginning the race was really hard,but now I'm very happy.It's the first time I wear the leader jersey in a so important race.I want to thank my fans,my wife-the most important-,U2,my hero Bono and again my wife,you're magnificient".

The first one to arrive after the breakaway riders was HGS,who "won" the group sprint by using his Hair Gel Power.

Fabian Cancellara came in 24th,while Frank was 25th.Chris-Anker Sorensen (who could be a good contender for "best name in the peloton",his name is simply great!) came in 48th.

Andy is now first in the Sprint classification while Team Saxo Bank is first in the team classification.Tomorrow's stage should be a hard one and the finish line is on the top of a climb.

(Photos by TDW,Cyclingnews and Getty Images)