Hushovd denies Petacchi

In the sprint finish, the Spaniard took an early lead in front of Petacchi at 300 metres from the finish. The Italian stallion looked around him for someone to latch on to, but there was only Thor Hushovd surging from on the opposite side of the street. Petacchi went ahead alone as Freire let up, but could not match Hushovd's crushing power.

Freire did not loosen his grip however and even hung on to finish just behind the two sprinters.

Sunday's fifth stage is a 20-km individual time trial around Servigliano in the central Marche region of Italy.