Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) made Wednesday an unforgettable day for the team after Ramunas Navardauskas broke away to win the 11th stage of the Giro d’Italia earlier on the day as he sprinted to a convincing win in stage four of the Amgen Tour of California.

Farrar came bursting past Ken Hanson (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies) for the victory, with Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) rounding out the podium.

Kris Boeckmans (Vacansoleil-DCM) sprinted to fourth, while stage three winner Peter Sagan (Cannondale) could only manage fifth as he started his bid for victory from too far back.

The win for the American helps ease the frustration of a dry streak, marking his first victory of the season and his first since he took two stages of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge last August.

Green jersey wearer Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM) was the first to kick off the attacks with a dig as soon as the flag was dropped, and as has been the case Bontrager followed with Nathan Brown marking the move. UnitedHealthcare wasn't keen on the composition, and nailed the pair back, and the attacks came thick and fast for the next 15km in the crosswinds before the right formula emerged.

Frank Pipp (Bissell) ignited a move and was joined by yesterday's most courageous rider Chad Beyer (Champion System) and Brown. James Stemper (5 Hour Energy) attacked to bridge across, and possibly able to threaten the mountains jersey of Bissell's Carter Jones, he was quickly marked by Chris Baldwin (Bissell) and had Marsh Cooper (Optum) along as well. The trio joined the leaders to make a successful breakaway of six for the day.

The surprise of the day was Baldwin's presence in the breakaway, as he started only 3:19 down on the general classification and was the virtual leader for a short while when the gap soared to 3:30, but the Jamis team got plenty of help in controlling the gap from the WorldTour squads keen to get a stage in a bunch sprint, and his virtual lead was short-lived.

Stemper took out the points for the first intermediate sprint, but he wasn't successful in stealing the mountains jersey from Jones. Baldwin sprinted away for the first prime ahead of Cooper, and then also took the second intermediate sprint, and then Brown attacked and went solo to the top of the final mountain sprint to take the maximum points ahead of Baldwin and Pipp.

His job done protecting the polka dot jersey, Pipp was the first rider to ease up on the breakaway as Vacansoleil and Cannondale piled on the pressure from the peloton. RadioShack and Omega Pharma-Quickstep then pitched in and the gap shrank to just 15 seconds with 20km to go, and the five remaining leaders were in sight and a bunch sprint was on the cards.

Hanson was the first to play his hand in the sprint. Behind Hanson was Farrar, and behind Farrar was Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step). The Frenchman, riding a little out of his element as lead-out man for Meersman, missed Farrar’s first acceleration and let a yawning gap open.

This gave Farrar and Hanson the gap they needed. Farrar blazed past his less-heralded compatriot and gave a two-arm salute over the line. Sagan was missing a little spark and was situated much too far behind in the final 500 meters, and fifth was the best the Slovak could manage.

Tour of California Stage 4:
1. Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp)
2. Ken Hanson (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies)
3. Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-Quick Step)
4. Kris Boeckmans (Vacansoleil-DCM)
5. Peter Sagan (Cannondale)
6. Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge)
7. Thor Hushovd (BMC Racing)
8. Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step)
9. Jeremy Vennell (Bissell)
10. Jasper Stuyven (Bontrager)

General Classification:
1. Janier Acevedo (Jamis-Hagens Berman)
2. Tejay Van Garderen (BMC Racing) at 12”
3. Philip Deignan (UnitedHealthcare) at 27”
4. Mathias Frank (BMC Racing) at 45”
5. Michael Rogers (Saxo-Tinkoff) at 55”
6. Francisco Mancebo (5-Hour Energy) at 1’03”
7. Chad Haga (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies) at 1’13”
8. Matthew Busche (Radioshack-Leopard) at 1’15”
9. Lawson Craddock (Bontrager) at 1’32”
10. Cameron Meyer (Orica-GreenEdge) at 1’40”