Thor Hushovd retained his lead in the Tour's general classification after Stage 4, but admitted he had to push hard to keep up with the climbers in a gruelling finish to the stage.
"I really had to fight there," sprinter Hushovd told ITV's Ned Boulting. "I went so, so deep to stay with the climbers up there."
"There was a moment there on the steepest part where I started to lose the leaders," Hushovd added. "But I sprinted up and closed the gap, that was the biggest effort of the day."
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