Danny Pate rode all but four kilometers of Saturday’s epic 232.5km fourth stage over the foggy mountains of Galway on the attack, but it was Norwegian hope Edvald Boasson Hagen (Maxbo-Bianchi) who took the cake at the Tour of Ireland.

Boasson Hagen wins it. The Tour of Ireland has provided plenty of opportunities for young talents to come to t

Photo: Graham Watson

The Slipstream captain attacked 2km into the spectacular route across Ireland’s rugged Connamara country and was reeled in with about 2km to go as the heralded Boasson Hagen surprised the veterans with an early sprint to snag the win.

“It was a lot of work for not a lot of reward,” said Pate, who was part of a five-man breakaway that dominated the Irish tour’s hardest stage. “I was attacking late to try to win but the peloton came down on us like a steel train.”

Race leader Stijn Vanderbergh held off one last-gasp attack from Team CSC over the day’s last of five climbs despite losing another Unibet.com teammate to injury and will carry a 20-second lead to Marcus Ljungqvist into Sunday’s finale to Dublin.

“Today was key to the classification. Now it’s over,” said a relieved Vanderbergh, who’s held the yellow jersey since winning the first stage. “Tomorrow is normally a sprint. The hardest stages are behind us now.”

The five-climb, 232.5km fourth stage starting and finishing in the bustling port city of Galway was the last major hurdle for Vandenbergh.FullResults

The 6-foot-3 Belgian rode with calm beyond his 23 years as the cold, wind, rain and fog across the barren climbs must have reminded him of his native Flanders.

CSC put down the hammer on Cat. 2 Keeagh climb with 28km to go to catch Vandenbergh with only one friendly Unibet.com jersey on the narrow, one-lane climb, but the largely unknown Vandenbergh never lost his nerve.

The Unibet biys did what it took to protect the jersey

Photo: Graham Watson

He coolly stayed on the wheel of six CSC jerseys ganging up on him out of a group of a dozens leaders pulling clear and patiently waited for more teammates and the rest of the front pack to pull through.

Vanderbergh came through 16th in the lead group 41 riders to conserve the leader’s jersey with just one day of racing left to go.

His strong defense Saturday proves he deserves to win the inaugural Irish tour, back on the international calendar after a 15-year absence.

“I was able to keep my position in the peloton,” said Vanderbergh, a man of few words who obviously didn’t stop to kiss the Blarney Stone a few days ago. “The roads were rough today with a lot of loose stones. I was able to keep the jersey, so I am happy.”

With Vandenbergh fighting to keep his lead and Boasson Hagen sprinting to the win and into the green points jersey, it was all Pate in between.

Pate – who went on a solo flier late in Thursday’s stage in into Kilkenny – helped initiate the action to forge the day’s breakaway and joined Adam Bergman (Colavita Sutter Home) and Gordon McCauley (Plowman Craven Evans Cyclist) in the opening kilometers.

They looked to be gone but Roger Beuchat (LPR) and Rob Partridge (Recycling) bridged out at about 30km as the route pushed north toward the first of five climbs in another gorgeous route that plowed into the rugged Connamara region.

Bergman was sporting some signs of wear and tear after somersaulting off the road late in Friday’s climb.

The peloton starts to pick up the pace...

Photo: Graham Watson

“I just got bumped off the road and pushed into the field. It can happen to anyone, unfortunately it happened to me,” said Bergman as he signed in Saturday morning in a cool and cloudy Galway for the early 9:45 a.m. start.

Beuchat was chasing mountain points and scooped up enough to climb ahead of Luis Pasamontes (Unibet.com) to secure the King of the Mountains jersey going into Sunday’s finale in Dublin.

The quintet worked together well over the day’s main hurdle at the Cat. 1 Tourmakeady climb at 76.5km to build a five-minute lead at the day’s first hot sprint at 98km.

“Those guys came out to us – five is better than three,” Pate explained. “Everyone was really working together well. It was a good group. You could tell the peloton was keeping us at about five minutes. It didn’t matter if we rode hard or eased up, the gap always stayed at about five minutes.”

Rain and brisk winds made for a treacherous day. CSC stagiaire Lasse Bochmann got a painful introduction to racing in the bigs when he crashed off the Tourmakeady and broke his collarbone.

Baden Cooke and Pasamontes (both Unibet.com) also went down hard on the rain-slicked dicey country roads and the Spanish climber was forced to abandon.

There was a collective cease-fire at 105km as the entire breakaway stopped for a quick call to nature, but they rolled on to build up a lead north of seven minutes heading to the day’s fifth and final climb at the Cat. 2 Keeagh climb with 28km to go.

The sprinter teams revved up when the course pulled within 60km of the finish. T-Mobile and Panaria-Navigare – working for Bernard Eisel and Max Richeze, respectively – put riders on the front to trim the lead down to 3:45.

Pate came alive on the narrow, foggy Keeagh climb, standing his lean body over the pedals to drop everyone in the break except Beuchat.

“The gap was coming down and I knew I needed more time, so I rode the climb bottom to top. I knew I had to go fast. If I could drop anyone, it was because they were already dead weight,” Pate explained. “The LPR guy wouldn’t pull, but I couldn’t drop him.”

With 25km to go, Pate and Beuchat led the three chasers by one minute and the main bunch by about another two minutes. It was going to be close.

Team CSC, meanwhile, knew this was their last chance to try to rattle Vandenbergh. The hilly course, long distance and strong winds added up for the ideal setting for a trademark CSC raid.

“First we have to isolate him, then we’ll try to attack him,” said CSC’s Marcus Ljungqvist, the man who has the most to gain in second at 20 seconds back. “Of course, we’ll try. We don’t give anything away free.”

CSC played its card on the Keeagh, putting green jersey Matti Breschel and Andy Schleck at the front on the narrow road. CSC drove a wedge through the bunch, with all six remaining riders hammering the pace.

Vandenbergh was looking “cool as a cucumber,” as TV race announcer Phil Liggett noted on Irish TV, and covered the move with the help of just one Unibet.com teammate, Pieter Jacobs.

Missing the selection were a few faces from Wednesday’s winning 10-man breakaway, including Aaron Olson (T-Mobile), who started the day third, but the lead pack came back together on the flat run into Galway and Olson saved his podium place.

Up front, Beuchat wasn’t giving Pate much help against the wind and the rain to try to deliver the breakaway victory.

Pate was churning his lean legs that delivered his U23 world time trial championship victory in 2001, but his chances were foiled when a five-man chase group peeled out of the main pack when the course hit the Atlantic Coast for the final 20km run into Galway.

Chasing were Frank Schleck (CSC), Toms Veelers (Rabobank), Matteo Priamo (Panaria-Navigare), Irish national champ David O’Loughlin (Navigators Insurance) and compatriot David McCann (Colavita Sutter Home).

Local fans were gutted when O’Loughlin, who hails from nearby Cong, was forced to make a wheel change after popping two spokes with 10km to go.

Pate and Beuchat were caught by the Schleck group with 7km to go, but Pate had one more attack in his legs in a short surge with 5km to go before conceding to the superior forces of the hard-chasing 40-strong peloton with just under 2km to go.

Still, it was a good ride for Pate, who’s heading back to America to race in the U.S. nationals and the Tour of Missouri.“When the five guys caught us, they didn’t pull that hard. They work so hard to pull us back, then they slow down,” he lamented. “It was a good day.”The peloton swallowed up the remnants of the breakaway to set up the sprint. Boasson Hagen – a 20-year-old Norwegian sprinter heading to the ProTour next year – bolted out of the pack to relegate future T-Mobile teammate to second for the second day in a row.

CSC's Bochmann was one of the riders who didn't finish.

Photo: Graham Watson

RACE NOTESSeven riders didn’t finish and two didn’t start, leaving 90 riders in the race.Boasson Hagen moved into the green points jersey with the win, one point ahead of Matti Breschel (CSC).Beuchat took over the King of the Mountains jersey on points even though overnight leader Pasamontes crashed out, Beuchat would have still won the jersey.The reborn Tour of Ireland concludes Sunday with the 147.7km fifth stage from Athlone to Dublin. There are no rated climbs and most riders are expecting a sprint finish.

Results - Stage 4

1. Edvald Boasson Hagen (N), Maxbo Bianchi 5:53:23 (39.5kph),
2. Bernhard Eisel (A), T-Mobile
3. Maximiliano Richeze (Arg), Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
4. Borut Bozic (Slo), LPR
5. Baden Cooke (Aus), Unibet
6. Daniele Colli (I), Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
7. Matti Breschel (Dk), CSC
8. Simon Clarke (Aus), South Australia-AIS
9. Joachim Bohler (N), Maxbo Bianchi
10. Daniel Lloyd (GB), DFL-Cyclingnews-LitespeedOverall
1. Stijn Vandenberg (B), Unibet 18:13:31
2. Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe), CSC, at 0:20
3. Aaron Olson (USA), T-Mobile, at 0:21
4. Wesley Sulzberger (Aus), South Australia-AIS, at 0:24
5. Pieter Jacobs (B), Unibet, at 0:27
6. Craig Lewis (USA), Slipstream, at 0:28
7. Glenn Bak (Dk), Murphy&Gunn, at 0:43
8. Valeriy Kobzarenko (Ukr), Navigators Insurance, at 2:37
9. Matti Breschel (Dk), CSC, at 13:15
10. Edvald Boasson Hagen (N), Maxbo Bianchi, at 13:20FullResults