"My job was to go 20km on a time trial and bring the leaders to the last climb. What happened behind me I never even saw.

Those were the words of Astana's Andrey Zeits after stage four at the Giro d'Italia. Zeits escaped into a chaotic early breakaway and remained at the front long enough that his teammates joined him and he led out their elite group to the final loop of coastal mountains into La Spezia.

Teammates Tanel Kangert and Davide Malacarne also turned in strong performances at the front today, isolating key opponents and their teammates until only General Classification contenders could remain. Dario Cataldo and Fabio Aru finished at the front of the race, just behind were Mikel Landa, with key work also coming from Paolo Tiralongo and Diego Rosa no less important on the twisting roads of the Cinque Terre.

“Congratulations to my team today, I think everybody saw that the ragazzi were excellent, they really did the maximum to help me, they did a great job and I have to thank them so much,” Aru said.

“Tiralongo, Rosa, Cataldo, Rosa, Kangert, Malacarne, they were all fantastic. We looked to do what we could today but there are 17 stages to come and we have to stay alert.”