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A predominantly flat day for the riders on was lit up in the final few kilometres as Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) outsprinted the rest to take the win on Stage 4 of the 2015 Vuelta a Espana.
The riders left Estepona and headed over 200 kilometres to Vejer de la Frontera. On their way, a breakaway of six went up the road, including Mickael Delage (FDJ), Bert Jan Lindeman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Nikolas Maes (Etixx-Quick Step), Jimmy Engoulvent (Europcar), Kristijan Durasek (Lampre-Merida) and Markel Irizar (Trek).
They were given a lead of as high as 13 minutes in the early parts of the race, which was surprising given the highest on general classification was Markel Irizar, who was only 7 minutes behind overall.
With around 50 kilometres to go, Katusha, Sky and the other main teams hit the front to ensure the breakaway would not ride away with the stage honours and had them down to only three minutes in front shortly afterwards.
This gap continued to fall rapidly, and at the intermediate sprint point with 34 kilometres to go in the town of Chiclana, the gap was just under one minute. The sprint was not contested, and was won by Delage, with Durasek in second, and Irizar in third.
Through the intermediate sprint, there was a crash that occurred close to the front of the peloton, with BMC general classification hope Tejay Van Gardaren involved. This caused quite a big split, as many riders were caught behind the crash.
However, BMC pulled three riders back to help Van Gardaren, and he was back in the peloton with 23 kilometres to go. At this stage, only Engoulvent and Irizar were still ahead, with the fast moving peloton catching the others, leaving the two leaders with only a 30 second lead.
As the riders entered the final 10 kilometres, the two breakaway riders were swept up by the peloton as Tinkoff – Saxo taped out a relentless tempo as they had done for the preceding 40 kilometres. Though, as the riders got close to the final climb, the teams with general classification hopefuls pushed the pace.
As the riders hit the lower slopes, it was Tosh van der Sande from Lotto-Soudal who attacked first, but was caught rather quickly, as Pelle Bilbao form Caja Rural who attacked with 3 and a half kilometres to go and held it until two kilometres to go.
On the flatter part of the climb, Samuel Sanchez (BMC) and Nicholas Roche (Sky) attacked, but were caught in the final ramp to the line, as both Valverde and Sagan sprinted past Roche. It was Valverde who timed his sprint to perfection, with Sagan showing he has fabulous form finishing in second after winning the previous day, whilst Daniel Moreno (Katusha) finished off the podium in third place with a strong display.
A great finale to the stage, which offered up some fabulous attacking racing. Esteban Chaves (Orica) holds onto the leaders jersey heading into stage 5.
The flattest stage (not counting the team time trial) so far this tour, but with a difficult final five kilometres, the sprinters will be put under pressure to feature in today’s finale at the Vuelta a Espana.
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When looking at the stage profile today, the riders will see no categorised climbs, and a fairly flat route, but alas, this is the Tour of Spain, and the race will again be finishing with an extremely hard final.
Though, the early parts of the stage will be welcomed after two hard days of racing, with the riders rolling out from Estepona.
They will face some rolling roads over the first 175 kilometres of racing before the riders will get to the first obstacle of the day, an intermediate sprint in the town of Chiclana de la Frontera. Then it is onto a complicated finale in Vejer de la Frontera.
The final four kilometres of the stage will be one that is perfect for a rider that has a very good sprint, but can also climb extremely well.
The climb in questions is just under two kilometres at seven percent average gradient, however the first kilometre is the most difficult, averaging over 10 per cent. If a punchy sprinter like Sagan is going to win today, being well positioned and having the legs to get over the early parts of the climb will give them a chance of winning.
However for mine, this stage is perfect for riders who prospered in the Ardennes classics. Again, the same three names that l talked about on Stage 2, are extremely relevant on a stage like this. Sagan could most definelty feature, especially after his impressive win yesterday, but l think certain riders listed below who missed out on Stage 2 will want the stage win for themselves.
Sagan may therefore not have the legs to follow the attacks over the first step sections of the climb, but if he can, he should win the stage.
Daniel Martin attacked only seconds after Esteban Chaves on Stage 2. If only he could have been on the wheel of the Colombian, he may have been in with a shout of a stage win. The Irishman looks in good form, and a stage like this will have him licking his lips.
He missed out on a couple occasions on similar stages last year, and will be looking to open the bank early this time around.
The two Spaniards in Joaquim Rodriguez and Alejandro Valverde did not get to show their climbing legs to much on Stage 2; well at least we did not get to see much of their rides, as the cameras was fixated on the battle at the front.
Both these riders have a healthy rivalry, and will be looking to their palmares with another Vuelta stage win here.
Other riders to look out for on today’s stage include Dani Moreno (Katusha), Esteban Chaves (Orica Orica-GreenEDGE), Nario Quintana (Movistar), Chris Froome (Sky) and Jelle Vanendert (Lotto-Soudal).
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