After three stage wins and an early departure from last month’s Giro d’Italia, Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) resumed his winning ways on Tuesday, taking the fourth stage of the Tour of Switzerland.

The Australian national champion easily beat Daniele Colli (Liquigas) at the head of a mass sprint finish in the town of Bad Zurzach.

“A stage win here in the Tour de Suisse with this field is pretty worthy,” said the Australian winner, pointing out that many of the UCI Pro Tour’s top sprinters chose the Swiss stage race over the overlapping Dauphiné Libéré.

Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) held on to the race leader’s yellow jersey, finishing near the front of a tight peloton.

Raindrops began falling on the peloton toward the end of the stage, and the awards ceremonies were held in a gloomy downpour.

The race concluded with two trips around a 19-kilometer circuit through and around the small town of Bad Zurzach, forcing riders to tackle the same Cat. 3 climb three times in a row before funneling into the wet, narrow roads leading to the finish.

“The technical finish was something that suited me,” said McEwen, who suffered from illness in March and April but says he’s back in top shape now. “There were a few corners, and a little bit uphill. I got a little bit caught before the first corner and had to brake slightly, but I was able to wriggle my way out of that situation.”

McEwen said that following the Giro he spent time relaxing with his family while nursing a sore throat and fever.

Asked about the incident that occurred last month’s Giro d’Italia, where authorities seized a pressurized oxygen chamber in his team’s hotel, McEwen said there was no new news and that the team’s doctor had asked for the equipment to be returned.

Ullrich is hoping to keep this color combination going through July, as well

Photo: AFP

At 208 kilometers, Tuesday’s stage was the longest of the nine-day long Tour of Switzerland - the 69th edition of the race. It began in Vaduz, the capital of the independent principality of Lichtenstein, and covered 208 kilometers, skirting the suburbs of Zürich on the way.

An early break by three riders - Bart Dockx (Davitamon-Lotto); Allan Johansen (CSC) and Lorenzo Bernucci (Fassa Bortolo) - created a gap of nearly eight minutes on the peloton at one point. But Dockx and Johansen dropped back with five kilometers to go.

Bernucci held on for only one kilometer longer than that, but he, too, gave up the dream as the peloton covered the last stretch of the closing circuit through the strawberry fields around Bad Zurzach.

Once the escapees were reeled in, the sprinters began jockeying for position. With two kilometers remaining, QuickStep’s Tom Boonen and Francaise des Jeux’s Baden Cooke seemed set to fight it out for the win. The ever-tenacious McEwen, however, wouldn’t settle for that and battled his way into a prime spot – right on Boonen’s wheel – as the course wound through the final, twisting turns of the last kilometer.

At almost the worst possible moment – coming through the final corner 300 meters from the finish – McEwen found himself in the wrong spot, losing a couple of bike lengths and having to charge hard to get through traffic and jump back onto his closest competitors’ wheels.

It’s all the little street fighter needed. McEwen caught his breath, timed his move and charged again, this time leavig the rest of the field scrambling for second place.

On Wednesday the race takes a mostly flat course from Bad Zurzach south to Altdorf, before Thursday’s move into the high mountains, including a trip over the notorious Oberalp Pass.