Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) blasted to victory on stage four of Tirreno-Adriatico in a 500 metre rush to the line to take his second stage win of the race.
The final metres of the Italian race saw Jan Christen (UAE Emirates-XRG) make an early push to the front of the leading pack, before Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) slipped ahead on his left. But the Italian couldn’t hold the lead for long, as Van der Poel accelerated forwards in a seemingly effortless display of dominance.
The Dutchman was followed by Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in second and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) in third.
"It was quite a hard day with a strong breakaway," Van der Poel explained after the race. "The pace was really high all day.
"In the end, Visma did a really good job. I could gamble a bit because I'd already won my stage. I just waited for the sprint and I think I did everything perfectly in the last kilometre," he said.
"I was expecting a late attack from Filippo Ganna. I also knew Visma was going to take a sprint with Wout [van Aert]. I just tried to react immediately on everything. I launched my sprint a bit too early maybe - with the headwind it was quite far away from the finish line," the Dutchman said of the race.
"Luckily I managed to get it to the line. It was a flat sprint but everything that came before was not so flat. It was a hard day. I'm really happy to finish it off. I'm in a good shape".
Pellizzari has also taken the general classification lead from Isaac Del Toro (UAE Emirates-XRG) and will tackle stage five in the white jersey of the overall race leader. The pair are currently separated by two seconds.
"I don't know how I did it!" A breathless Pellizzari said in an interview with Cycling Pro Net at the finish line.
"I came with a lot of speed in the sprint," he continued. “I think I actually won the sprint from the group, but Van der Poel was already ahead."
The race followed a 213km route from Tagliacozzo to Martinsicuro via snow-capped mountains and a decisive final 60km sprinkled with short, sharp climbs.
An impressive early break that included Tibor Del Grosso, (Alepcin-Premier Tech) Liam Slock (Lotto Intermarché), and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) took an early lead that climbed to over three minutes, growing on the downhill of the first - and highest - climb of the day.
The final kilometres of the race were dominated by the biggest dames, with Van der Poel, Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Ganna, Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Ben Healy (EF Education EasyPost) all following Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) into the straight seaside drag to the finish line.
Results
Tirreno-Adriatico, Stage 4: Tagliacozzo > Martinsicuro, 213km
1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned), Alpecin-Premier Tech, in a time of 4:51:40
2. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita), Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, at same time
3. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor), Uno-X Mobility, ast
4. Clément Champoussin (Fra), XDS Astana, ast
5. Wout van Aert (Bel), Visma-Lease a Bike, ast
6. Ben Healy (Ire), EF Education-EasyPost, ast
7. Andrea Vendrame (Ita), Jayco AlUla, ast
8. Alessandro Pinarello (Ita), NSN Cycling, ast
9. Filippo Ganna (Ita), Ineos Grenadiers, ast
10. Isaac del Toro (Mex), UAE Team Emirates - XRG, ast
General Classification after stage 4
1. Giulio Pelizzari (Ita), Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, in 15:27:00
2. Isaac del Toro (Mex), UAE Team Emirates - XRG +2
3. Primož Roglič (Slo), Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +21
4. Matteo Jorgenson (USA), Visma-Lease a Bike, +34
5. Ben Healy (Ire), EF Education-EasyPost, +39
6. Andrea Vendrame (Ita) Jayco AlUla, +42
7. Magnus Sheffield (USA), Ineos Grenadiers, +42
8. Giulio Ciccone (Ita), Lidl-Trek, +44
9. Alan Hatherly (RSA), Jayco AlUla, +46
10. Antonio Tiberi (Ita), Bahrain-Victorious, +49
