Primož Roglič won an uphill sprint at the summit of Pico Villuercas to win stage four of the Vuelta a España on Tuesday and take over the overall race lead from Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike).
The Slovenian was part of a six-man move that approached the finish line together. A move from Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) eventually split the group, before Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto Dstny) launched a powerful sprint in response to Landa’s acceleration.
Roglič was straight onto the move from the young Belgian. A huge turn of speed from the Slovenian in the final two hundred metres ensured that he passed Van Eetvelt and stole the win on the line.
Van Eetvelt initially raised an arm in celebration thinking the victory was his, but then saw Roglič pass him on his left hand side.
Speaking afterwards, Roglič revealed that taking a stage win and the race lead this early on was never part of his team’s plan. Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe set a furious pace on the front of the peloton for much of the day, seemingly looking to tee up their lead rider for the win, but Roglič said that was never the intention.
"It was not actually the main objective of today, but when you see our guys riding hard in this heat, I was happy that I could then finish it off," he said. "Nobody asked me [how I was feeling] if they did then I probably wouldn’t have said it, to go so hard and to control it for the victory, but I had no option."
On the eve of the Vuelta getting started in Portugal, Roglič admitted that a back injury, sustained during a crash at the Tour de France in July, was still causing him pain. But he showed no sign of any discomfort as he latched onto Van Eetvelt before taking yet another Vuelta stage win.
"It was really tough. It was steep and like I said, for me coming back, I definitely felt my back there already after some hours of riding," he added, revealing that his back was still an issue. "But we’ll have to see, hopefully it doesn’t get worse, but the goal will stay the same, just to keep going day by day now."
Roglič now leads the general classification by eight seconds going into Wednesday's stage five.
How it happened
Stage four of the Vuelta was widely anticipated to be an early test for the GC contenders on the slopes of Pico Villuercas.
An early breakaway containing a handful of climbers got up the road, but began to fragment as the kilometres ticked by. With 35 kilometres left to race, Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Pablo Castrillo (Kern Pharma) were at the head of the race with a gap of 2:12 back to the main field.
Three riders were caught in no man’s land between the breakaway and the main field. They were former Italian national champion Filippo Zana (Jayco-AIUla), Mikel Bizkarra (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto Dstny).
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe were driving the pace on the front of the peloton and gradually cutting down the lead duo’s advantage. Visma-Lease a Bike were also involved at the head of the bunch, looking to keep Van Aert well placed as the finish gradually approached.
With 16 kilometres to go, the base of the climb to Pico Villuercas was rapidly approaching. Armirail and Castrillo still had an advantage of just under two minutes as they crossed the intermediate sprint point at Roturas. Red Bull were still leading the chase in the peloton, but UAE Emirates were beginning to move up with an eye towards the finish.
Armirail and Castrillo were finally caught with seven kilometres left to race. Pavel Sivakov, Jay Vine and Brandon McNulty put in a huge turn at the head of the bunch for UAE Emirates which eventually ended the lead duo’s dreams of a potential stage win. Sivakov pushed on as the gradients began to shoot up, but his move was quickly shut down by Red Bull and Primož Roglič.
Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) was the next rider to attack, quickly building up a lead on the 18% slopes, but he was pulled back by a Roglič led trio. Enric Mas (Movistar) and Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto Dstny) were also present.
With two kilometres to go the three leaders moved from the rougher asphalt onto a smoother section of road as they neared the summit. João Almeida (UAE Emirates), Gall and Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech) managed to make contact with the leaders.
The sight of Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) approaching forced the lead group to begin the sprint for the line. Riccitello was the first man to jump, before Gall then passed him with Roglič locked onto his wheel. Van Eetvelt then accelerated, but he was marked by Roglič. Nobody could match the Slovenian’s speed and he took the stage win on the line.
Results
Vuelta a España stage 4: Plasencia > Pico Villuercas (170km)
1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull - Bora-Hansgrohe, in 4:26:49
2. Lennert Van Eetvelt (Bel) Lotto Dstny
3. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates
4. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar
5. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
6. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech
7. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal Quick-Step, all at same time
8. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +18s
9. George Bennett (NZl) Israel-Premier Tech, +28s
10. Pavel Sivakov (Fra) UAE Team Emirates, at same time
General classification after stage 4
1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, in 14:33:08
2. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, +8s
3. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, +32s
4. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +38s
5. Lennert Van Eetvelt (Bel) Lotto Dstny, +41s
6. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +47s
7. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates, +50s
8. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +58s
9. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal Quick-Step, at same time
10. Aleksandr Vlasov, Red Bull - Bora-Hansgrohe, +1:00
