Cadel Evans wins fourth Tour de France stage

IN the end it came down to just centimetres for Cadel Evans.

110706 Cadel Evans

IN the end it came down to just centimetres for Cadel Evans.

Evans, the BMC Racing team captain, got the stage he so richly deserved in a photo finish for his first win at this tour and at his seventh attempt to win the maillot jaune, but it just wasn't enough to put the yellow jersey on his back.

That will come in due course.

But with no time bonuses at stake, he fell agonisingly close.

Thor Hushovd, the Norwegian who replaced Evans as world road champion on the streets of Geelong last October, still clings to the yellow fleece on his back by just one second.

It was bittersweet for the 34-year-old from Barwon Heads who didn't panic when a mechanical fault saw him forced to change bikes inside the final 15km and cross the finish line in 4hr 11min 39s.

"I've got to thank Marcus Burghardt today for dragging me back up to the front of the bunch where I needed to be at the end," an emotional Evans said.

"That effort allowed me to finish off the job that was started at the bottom of the climb by George Hincapie.

"I can't believe that I beat the likes of Philippe Gilbert on the final climb into a headwind."

Gilbert had been in yellow at the end of the first stage on Saturday, before handing the race leader's jersey over to Hushovd the following day at the the end of the team time trial.

But Evans wasn't too disappointed at just missing out on taking the yellow jersey off the back of Hushovd.

"I've won it and worn it before and it is a wonderful feeling. But I wouldn't be in this position but for my team mates," Evans said.

"I'm really happy for them."

The Australian team captain had to bide his time to make his winning move after a series of mechanical problems in the last 20km looked like robbing him of figuring in the finish.

But somehow he dug deep into his physical reserves to put himself in a position to fight for the stage win at the end of a tough and often brutal final two kilometre climb, nicknamed by the locals as the "Wall of Brittany".

He worked damn hard to get it.

Defending tour champion Alberto Contador, hardly sighted for the opening three days, aided and abetted by Tasmania's Richie Porte, put it right to Evans in the final 200m, but somehow the Victorian dug even deeper into his mental and physical reserves to edge out the Spaniard.

A photo finish revealed he had crossed the line by millimetres.

The unsung hero for Evans in this most historic of wins for the Australian was the veteran American Hincapie, the only rider to have ridden shotgun in all seven of Lance Armstrong's Tour wins between 1999 and 2005.

Hincapie, who turned 38 a week ago, set up the stage victory for Evans - his first officially - after the drama-charged time trial loss to Alexandre Vinokourov in 2008, which was later overturned after the Kazakh was busted for doping.

Vinokourov finished the day third, behind Contador, who has had an uncharateristic slow start to this year's race.

The win to Evans also sees him take the polka dot jersey into day five, and still very much in contention for the yellow, trailing Hushovd by just one second.

Tonight's stage five is another lumpy ride from Carhaix to Cap Frehel.