Cavendish wins stage, Leipheimer retains lead

By James Raia

CLOVIS, California (Reuters) - Britain''s Mark Cavendish sprinted to victory in Wednesday''s stage four of the Tour of California while twice defending champion Levi Leipheimer of the U.S. maintained the overall lead.

Seven-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, relieved to be reunited with a bike stolen four days ago, finished in the main pack to stay fourth overall, 30 seconds behind Leipheimer.

Cavendish, who won four stages on last year''s Tour de France, surged to the finish of the 185.7-kilometre stage from Merced to Clovis in a time of four hours, 42 minutes 38 seconds.

Leipheimer, overall leader after the second stage, crossed the line in the chasing pack to retain his 24-second lead over Australian Michael Rogers.

American David Zabriskie remained third overall, a further four seconds adrift.

"The first one-and-a-half hours were blazing," Leipheimer told reporters.

"Even Lance took some monster pulls and brought back four or five guys on his own. It''s great to have such a strong team."

GRUELLING STAGE

Leipheimer''s Astana team mate Armstrong, competing on home soil for the first time since ending his three-and-a-half year retirement, was delighted to maintain his overall position after a grueling stage.

"It was a hard race and it was aggressive racing," said the 37-year-old American, who was informed midway through the day that his $10,000 custom bike stolen in Sacramento after the opening stage had been found.

"It wasn''t that easy today. All and all, it was a tough day."

For the second day in a row, several crashes occurred, forcing the retirement of Luxembourg''s Kim Kirchen, three-times world champion Oscar Freire of Spain and American Scott Nydam.

Three riders, among them 2004 Olympic time trial gold medallist Tyler Hamilton, built a big lead for much of the day before Cavendish out-sprinted Belgian Tom Boonen to the finish.

The nine-day event continues with the fifth stage on Thursday, a flat 216.1-kilometre run from Visalia to Paso Robles.

(Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)