Average speed: 51.95 kilometers per hour for 135.5km. That’s all you need to know to understand stage 4 of the Tour de Langkawi. It was fast, brutally fast, more than a kilometer and a half per hour faster than Mario Cipollini's record Tour de France stage last year. And at the finish, overall leader Jans Koerts (Mercury-Viatel) added a stage win to his honors, easily outdistancing Ivan Quaranta (Alexia Alluminio) and Andris Nauduzs (Selle Italia-Pacific).

The race continues to head down the east coast of Malaysia, with today's stage beginning in Dungun and ending in Kuantan. The attacks began from the very start, and the peloton was strung out at 60kph by the 4km mark. The field was constantly in a state of flux with attacks and counterattacks. Saturn was particularly aggressive, with Michael Barry off the front either alone or in breaks for 15km.

Moninger leads the Mercury chase

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Shortly after Barry was caught, his teammate Chris Fisher and Innar Mandoja (AG2R Prevoyance) broke away with 40km remaining, on what came close to being the winning move. The duo managed to get a maximum time gap of 1:16 on the Mercury-led peloton, and were only reabsorbed with 6km to go.

Then the maneuvering began. First Saeco at 5km to go, then Team Canada at 4km. Ceramiche Panaria was next, but the speed and desire of too many other teams made it impossible for any one squad to dominate.

"We tried to set up a train", said Koerts "but it was too fast, everyone kept attacking so we gave up."

Instead, it was every man for himself in the final sprint, with Koerts shooting to the front in the final 100 meters. "Gord (Fraser) came by me at 300 meters and yelled 'come on'. I got on his wheel and then went around to the front at the end."

The time bonus for the win padded the Dutch rider's lead to 25 seconds over Enrico Degano (Ceramiche Panaria) and Paolo Bettini (Mapei-Quick Step). Quaranta moves into a tie with Fraser 4 seconds further back.

Tomorrow the riders face the longest stage of the Tour - 241.1km.