Chris Horner of Team Radio Shack dominated Stage 4 of the 2011 Amgen Tour of California en route to capturing the overall lead in the race. Horner took control early and went wire-to-wire en route to an impressive time of 3:27:51. More important than his own time was the fact that the second place finisher Andy Schleck finished a whopping 1:15 back. Rory Sutherland finished a close third a fraction of a second back of Schleck, and Levi Leipheimer finished fourth another split second back.
Horner was in 21st place in the overall standings, ten seconds back of race leader Greg Henderson, heading into Wednesday’s fourth stage. This dominant victory launched Horner into the overall lead as much of the top of the overall leaderboard heading into the day was nowhere to be seen immediately behind Horner.
Horner has to be considered the favorite at this point after his dominant mountain performance. If he can continue to perform well in the hills, he could roll to victory with his Radio Shack teammates this weekend. For now, here are the overall standings:
Overall Standings
1. Christopher Horner: 11:29:32
2. Levi Leipheimer: +1:15
3. Thomas Danielson: +1:22
4. Christian Vande Vlde: +1:29
5. Rory Sutherland: +1:30
6. Andy Schleck: +1:30
7. Ryder Hesjedal: +1:36
8. Linus Gerdemann: +1:50
9. Andrew Talansky: +1:50
10. Laurens Ten Dam: +2:00
11. Tejay Van Garderen: +2:05
12. Daniel Martin: +2:05
13. Brent Bookwalter: +2:33
14. Patrick McCarty: +2:33
15. Steve Morabito: +2:38