Cycling-Bouhanni wins Catalonia stage five, Van Garderen still leads

March 23 (Reuters) - Frenchman Nacer Bouhanni won a weather-shortened fourth stage of the Tour of Catalonia on Thursday while American Tejay van Garderen retained the overall lead.

Snow meant the stage from Llivia to Igualada was reduced by 50km and after several failed attacks towards the end of the day it came down to a bunch sprint which Bohanni took comfortably.

The Cofidis rider finished ahead of Davide Cimolai and Daryl Impey.

BMC rider Van Garderen finished safely in the pack to retain his 41-second advantage ahead of Friday's fifth stage which features a 1,000 metre climb towards the finish in Lo Port.

Team mate Samuel Sanchez is his closest challenger with Team Sky's Geraint Thomas a further three seconds back. Spain's Alberto Contador is seventh, one minute 13 seconds in arrears.

Tour de France champion Chris Froome, Alejandro Valverde and his Movistar team mate Marco Soler attacked near the summit of the second-category Tudo del Puig on Thursday and managed to open a small gap before being caught with five kilometres left. (Writing by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis)