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Criterium du Dauphine Libere - Hauterives-Le Mont-Ventoux

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  1. 0km** - Alexander Vinokourov crosses the line a full 7'21" behind the leaders!!

  2. 0km** - Evans and Menchov attack at the top of the climb!! Evans is fourth, Menchov fifth, Kashechkin crosses the line further back, but will take the yellow jersey by my quick calculations.

  3. 0km** - Sylvester Szmyd is second, Igor Anton third.

  4. 0km** - Christophe Moreau takes victory atop the Mont Ventoux!

  5. 1km** - Igor Anton is not gaining fast enough, Moreau will stay away!

  6. 2km** - Moreau is looking good!! He is approaching the final stretch.

  7. 3km** - Christophe Moreau is being chased down hard by Igor Anton.

  8. 4km** - Caisse d'Epargne's Luis Sanchez is being dropped too.

  9. 4km** - It's livening up at the front of the pack now. Kashechkin is to the fore, while Volodymir Gustov is dropped. Another attack from a Euskaltel rider - it's Igor Anton. He now goes past Calzati, and so do the peloton.

  10. 5km** - Moreau attacks!!! He has powered away from Szmyd and is out in front on his own! Has he moved too early?

  11. 6km** - Now that Calzati has been caught, Moreau moves ahead of Szmyd. The peloton are 58 seconds behind.

  12. 6km** - Moreau and Szmyd have Calzati in the sights! Ag2r having a good day today.

  13. 6km** - Calzati now emerges from the forest and is now out into the ratehr barren landscape that distinguishes the Mont Ventoux.

  14. 8km** - A group of 20 riders is now chasing down Calzati, Moreau and Szmyd further up the road. The winner is likely to come from this select pack.

  15. 8km** - Kashechkin follows an attack, and the peloton is in tatters. They're in single file up the Ventoux now. Zabriskie is still there too, as is Cadel Evans.

  16. 9km** - Calzati's lead is likely to come to an end fairly soon. The Moreau/Szmyd duo are closing fast.

  17. 9km** - Vinokourov's failure to stay with the main group mean that Kashechkin can ride for himself now. He's still in the peloton.

  18. 9km** - Moreau and Szmyd are now both 1'40" behind Calzati, who is still out in front.

  19. 9km** - Moreau and Szmyd now pass Willems and Vasseur.

  20. 9km** - More and more attacks coming now! The peloton is being blown apart! Landulize is off, or so it looks like. It's one of the Euskaltel boys in any case.

  21. 10km* - Moreau and Szmyd have now passed Auge, one of the remaining escapees from earlier in the day.

  22. 10km* - We must remember last year Floyd Landis fizzled on this climb, then went on to ride a stunning Tour de France. Wether or not that was under illegal substances or not is still unclear, though. But in any case, Alexander Vinkourov has been dropped!! He is out the back of the peloton.

  23. 11km* - Inigo Landaluze attacks!!! The pack don't allow him to get clear, though. Now Dimitry Fofanov hits the front.

  24. 11km* - Vino is in trouble! He is dropping back in the peloton, which ahs been reduced to 40 or so riders.

  25. 11km* - Suddenly Vino looks a little exposed. He only has one rider with him, Redondo. Redondo is a fine climber, mind you. He's only 14th on the GC.

  26. 12km* - The situation now is that Calzati is 2'22" ahead of the duo he left, with the field a further minute back. There are a couple of opther riders who attacked, including Christophe Moreau and Sylvester Szmyd floating between Calzati and the main pack.

  27. 12km* - Sylvain Calzati attacks from the lead group! He has left the other three in his wake.

  28. 13km* - Astana are reluctant to react at the moment. Vino is perhaps not willing to sap too much of his energy ahead of the Tour next month.

  29. 13km* - Gilbert's attack didn't last long. He has been caught and passed already. Christophe Moreau, the winner of stage two, is at the front now.

  30. 14km* - 4'59" is the gap now as a few attacks come from the front of the pack. FdJ's Philippe Gilbert goes haring off up the road now! He is in no danger of troubling the leaders on the GC - he's back in 44th position.

  31. 16km* - The peloton is beginning to decrease in size already! A groupetto has just gone out the back door. Their aim will be to make it up to the top intact.

  32. 17km* - Alejandro Valverde is struggling! He is already on the inside ring and he has been dropped from the peloton!! This is a huge surprise, from one of the three men being tipped for a Tour de France victory this year.

  33. 17km* - The co-operation between the first four riders seems to have stopped now as they gradient increases. Their advantage over the field has slipped to 5'35"

  34. 17km* - Vino has a problem!!! He has to stop. Three Astana riders stop too to help tow him back. He is soon on his way. The cameras didn't show what happened then - perhaps a puncture. In any case, he is being policed straight through to the front of the pack again.

  35. 18km* - Even Tom Boonen's near the front of the pack. He won't be there for long though.

  36. 18km* - A few Quickstep boys are moving through now. That's a little odd, given that they have Cedric Vasseur up the road.

  37. 20km* - The Predictor Lotto team are moving up on the right hand side of Astana, who hitherto have been towing the peloton along. Cadel Evans has four men ahead of him. He's definitely a man to watch today.

  38. 22km* - The gap is falling. 6'51" is the latest split. I would be stunned if any of these four leaders were first atop the Ventoux.

  39. 24km* - Alejandro Valverde seems to be in a little trouble - and their only on the Madeleine - they haven't even touched the Ventoux yet. Is he having a bad day at the office? He has one of his Caisse d'Epargne team-mates around to support him.

  40. 28km* - 7'58" is still the gap as they reach the top of the Col de la Madeleine. Calzati is first over the top adn picks up the five points towards the mountain classification.

  41. 32km* - It will be interesting to see who really attacks the Ventoux today. Vinokourov hinted he is not interested in the overall classification, but was far more concerned about yesterday's time-trial, so he may sit back. Denis Menchov won here last year. He is not far off the overall lead, so could make a move, as could Levi Leipheimer, winner of the Dauphine last year.

  42. 37km* - Auge, Calzati, Vasseur and Willems' lead has been cut to nine minutes now as we approach the Col de la Madeleine (a taster for the agony to follow).

  43. 41km* - The weather conditions today are holding up, but the clouds are thickening overhead. If the heavens should open, then the climb will be even tougher.

  44. 42km* - The riders are approaching the Ventoux. They will be climbing for a full 20 kilometres at an average gradient of 8%.

  45. 42km* - The gap has now fallen to 9'45" on the escapees.

  46. 42km* - Incidentally, this was the same mountaain that British rider Tom Simpson died on back in 1967. There is now a memorial to him toward the top of the climb.

  47. 47km* - Sylvain Calzati, incidentally, is wearing number 13, though has turned it upside down. Clearly a superstitious man.

  48. 47km* - To bring you up to speed on the stage as its going: Sylvain Calzati (Fra/AG2R) attacked soon after the beginning of the stage and was followed by Stephane Auge (Fra/Cofidis), Cedric Vasseur (Fra/Quick Step) and Frederik Willems (Bel/Liquigas). That quartet now has a lead of 11'03" over the pack.

  49. 15:15 - Astana's Alexander Vinokourov leads the overall standings by just two seconds from him compatriot and team-mate Andrey Kashechkin.

  50. 15:00 - We have a special stage for you today - the finish is atop the infamous Mont Ventoux.

  51. 15:00 - Welcome to eurosport.yahoo.com's live text commentary of stage four of the Dauphiné Libéré. Apologies for the lack of live text comments over the last few days to all you cycling aficionados out there. We have been ironing out a few technical issues after the launch of the new website.