Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) narrowly bested Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto-Dstny) atop the brutal Pico Villuercas climb to nab stage 4 of the Vuelta a España and the red jersey as well.
Red Bull set a hard tempo on a hot day in Spain’s Extremadura region and even with several kilometers still to go on the final climb, numerous would-be GC hopefuls were losing touch with a rapidly thinning peloton. The stage would ultimately be decided in a reduced sprint among a handful of survivors, and Van Eetvelt came close enough to the victory that he raised an arm in celebration before Roglič surged past him at the last moment.
Van Eetvelt settled for second with João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) taking third on the day. Roglič, who is on the hunt for a record-tying fourth career Vuelta win, now leads the race with an eight-second gap back to Almeida.
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How it happened
- Five riders jumped away in the early goings of the 170.5 km stage from Plasencia, but Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe spent much of the day at the front, ensuring that the gap was manageable. Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R) and Pablo Castrillo (Kern Pharma), the last survivors from the move, were caught on the steep slopes of the final climb, where Red Bull was joined by UAE Team Emirates at the front.
- Domestiques from the GC teams set a brutal tempo that lined out what was left of the peloton, and then Roglič took over, shelling riders out the back. With 4 km to go, Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R) surged away alone, while behind, big names like Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike), Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), and even Almeida lost touch.
- Roglič steadily led a small group back up to Gall before the gradients eased off for a bit, allowing a few other riders – Almeida included – to get back into the mix, and then more attacks flew. Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech) tried his luck but was chased down by Enric Mas (Movistar), and then Gall attacked again only to have Roglič immediately close him down.
- In the last few hundred meters, Mikel Landa (T-Rex-QuickStep) shot off the front in an attempt to steal a march on the rest of the group, but Van Eetvelt responded, with Roglič in his wheel. Van Eetvelt took the lead and almost held on all the way to the line, but as he went to raise his arm, Roglič powered past. His winning margin was small enough that Van Eetvelt may wonder if he could have won had he kept his head down and continued pedaling. Instead, Roglič took his 13th career Vuelta stage win and the race lead too. All told, the day will be a confidence-booster for a rider who is a little over a month removed from a back fracture sustained in a crash at the Tour de France.
- Kuss limited his losses reasonably well to finish 28 seconds back, but it was not a great day for the defending champion. On the other hand, at least he fared better than Yates and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), who finished 1:29 down.
It was not actually the main objective of today but when you see the guys riding hard in this heat, I’m happy to finish it off.
—Primož Roglič on the stage win
Brief analysis
- Red Bull was rewarded for all the hard work they put in on the day. Roglič later said that the team had not actually asked him whether he was feeling confident enough in his back to target the stage, and if they had, he would have told them not to go so hard – but they did go hard, and he finished it off. He did say that he felt some back pain during the stage, although apparently not enough to keep him from looking like the strongest rider on the final climb.
- Van Eetvelt can be pleased with how good he looked on a very hard day, but that might not take away the sting of celebrating early and then losing. This was the closest he has yet come to a Grand Tour stage win in what is his second Grand Tour appearance; on the bright side, he has the punch to battle for more stages at this Vuelta.
- In the first mountain test of the Vuelta, Kuss was found lacking. His time losses from the day are nowhere near insurmountable, but the terrain should have suited him, so this was not a great sign. He will need to bounce back quickly if he wants to defend his overall title.
- UAE seemed to have multiple options ahead of the race with Almeida and Yates as the heavy hitters and Isaac del Toro, Pavel Sivakov, and Brandon McNulty also in the mix. Almeida was the strongest rider in the team on stage 4 with Sivakov as the next closest to the lead group in the end, and UAE will likely rally around Almeida moving forward.
- Riccitello was probably the most surprising name in the group that contested the stage, and more than just being there, he even tried his luck with an attack at one point. The 22-year-old is riding in his second Grand Tour as well at this Vuelta. He’s targeting a top 10 overall and is off to a great start so far.
Up next
With no categorized climbs on the docket, stage 5 is the one day deemed truly “flat” by organizers. We should be in for a bunch sprint in the Andalusian capital at the end of the day.
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