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Andre Greipel has won his second race at the Tour Down Under in an intriguing stage 4. The 25 year old German has proven consistently fast all week and his victory comes on top of his stage 2 win. The Team High Road sprinter also claimed the TDU pre-race warmup event, the Down Under Classic on Sunday.

Credit Agricole's Mark Renshaw closely followed Greipel across the line, and the 6 bonus seconds have kept the New South Welshmen in the Ochre Jersey.

Although the race finished in another bunch sprint - for most of the day it appeared as if the peloton would splintered and a breakaway group would succeed.

As early as the first climb of the day, the peloton struggled to stay together as one unit. A small 4 man break contested the KOM with Saunier Duval's Arkaitz Duran Daroca collecting maximum points. Current KOM jersey wearer, Philippe Gilbert was 5th over the line - adding 4 valuable points to his collection.

Shortly after the Palmer climb, the peloton increased its tempo in pursuit of the 4 leaders. This caused a massive split in the field. The break up of the main group looked race defining - at one stage the gap had grown to over a minute. But with some big names missing out, it wasn't long before all was brought back together again.

With the field as one, this placed greater emphasis on the two intermediate sprints and the small, but oh so priceless bonus seconds. UniSA-Australia's Allan Davis collected 6 points as he crossed the line ahead of Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d'Epargne) and Philippe Gilbert in the first sprint.

Gerolsteiner's Jan Robert Forster got the points in front of Renshaw and Mikel Astarloza in the second sprint. The increased speed of the riders during this phase of the race again saw 60 riders spat out the back of the peloton, and in the hot conditions, it looked like it was game over for them.

But the riders persevered and managed to touch base with the leading group. With just over 50 kilometres of racing left, Javier Aramendia of Euskaltel-Euskadi made a break for it. The Spanish rider was well down on GC (4.20) and it looked like the TDU may have their first breakaway success of the week.

With 28 kilometres to go, Aramendia still held a 3.20 lead - but unfortunately for the Spaniard, the sprinters had other ideas and started to co-operate in reeling the lone rider in. The catch took place in the outskirts of Strathalbyn with 6 kilometres left to run. The teams of UniSA-Australia, Team High Road. Team CSC and Rabobank made sure that was the end of the attacks and started to set things up for finish.

The run the to the line wasn't without incident. Graeme Brown's lead-out rider, Mathew Hayman (Rabobank) was brought down in a nasty fall 300 metres from the line. Italian rider Elia Rigotto (Team Milram) was deemed to have made an erratic move and was later disqualified from the race which left Hayman nursing a broken left collar-bone. The Australian will have surgery later tonight, however no other riders were injured in the incident.

The sprint to the line was hectic, and again Greipel showed his great early season form with a convincing win to Renshaw. Young-gun Jose Joaqiun Rojas Gil collected third and increased his lead in the Under 25 classification.

Greipel was delighted with his win and is surprised with how well his week has gone so far. For his win today Greipel moves into second place in the overall classification, and as an added bonus, has also won a jersey cow from the local district council.

With just two stages remaining in this years' race, anyone of up to 90 riders could still win the Tour Down Under. Saturday's 5th stage is sure to narrow the list of potential champions down to just a few.

Stage Results:
1. Andre Greipel (Ger) Team High Road 3.14.46 (41.280 km/h)
2. Mark Renshaw (Aus) Credit Agricole
3. Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
4. Matthew Goss (Aus) Team CSC
5. Denis Flahaut (Fra) Saunier Duval-Scott
6. Allan Davis (Aus) UniSA-Australia
7. Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank
8. Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC
9. Davide Vigano (Ita) Quick Step
10. Jan Robert Forster (Ger) Gerolsteiner

General Classification after Stage 4:
1. Mark Renshaw (Aus) Credit Agricole 13.28.38
2. Andre Greipel (Ger) Team High Road @ 0.04
3. Allan Davis (Aus) UniSA-Australia @ 0.07
4. Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne @ 0.14
5. Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank
6. Mickael Delage (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux @ 0.18
7. Mickael Buffaz (Fra) Cofidis
8. Yoann Offredo (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux @ 0.19
9. Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank @ 0.20
10. Kjell Carlstrom (Fin) Liquigas

Points Classification after Stage 4:
1. Mark Renshaw (Aus) Credit Agricole 24 pts
2. Allan Davis (Aus) UniSA-Australia 18 pts
3. Andre Greipel (Ger) Team High Road 16 pts

Mountains Classification after Stage 4:
1. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Francaise Des Jeux 30 pts
2. Mickael Delage (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux 16 pts
3. Arkaitz Duran Daroca (Spa) Saunier Duval-Scott 16 pts

Under 25 Classification after Stage 4:
1. Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 13.28.52
2. Mickael Delage (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux @ 0.04
3. Yoann Offredo (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux @ .05

© Michael holden