John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) has returned to his winning ways in the Vuelta a Espana after he crushed his rivals in stage 4 of the race, holding off Vicente Reynes (IAM) and race leader Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEDGE) in a 50-rider sprint. The German dug deep on the final climb to stay with the best riders before unleashing his amazing power while Matthews extended his lead courtesy of bonus seconds.

 

Yesterday Johan Degenkolb was left hugely disappointed when he was unable to finish off amazing work by his Giant-Shimano teammates in the tough uphill finale on stage 3 of the Vuelta a Espana. Today he put the defeat behind him when he returned to the top step of the podium in the Spanish race for the first time since 2012 when he won 5 stages.

 

With two climbs, stage 4 offered a hard finale that was expected to send most of the sprinters out of the back door but Degenkolb proved that he is much more than a pure sprinter. While Movistar and Sky set a hard tempo on the final ascent, Degenkolb was constantly riding in the front positions and even though he clearly suffered, he never seemed to be in any kind of difficulty.

 

As opposed to this, the climb proved to be too hard for Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) who was dropped around halfway up the slopes while race leader Michael Matthews was also in a lot of difficulty. The Australian nearly lost contact on the steepest section but just managed to stay with the best.

 

Things got a bit dangerous for the sprinters when Winner Anacona (Lampre), Romain Sicard (Europcar), Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) escaped. However, Valverde’s presence prompted Katusha and Sky to react and together with Orica-GreenEDGE, they brought things back together with 9km to go.

 

From there Orica-GreenEDGE kept the pace high with Simon Clarke and Ivan Santaromita while the Giant riders got a free ride. However, they had to kick into action when Adam Hansen attacked just 1.5km from the line while Manuel Quinziato (BMC) took off in pursuit.

 

An amazing turn by Chad Haga brought the pair back but that didn’t dampen the aggressive sprit. Next ony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) gave it a go with Daniel Martin (Garmin-Sharp) on his wheel but Degenkolb was quick to respond.

 

The German swiftly moved onto the Garmin rider’s wheel and then waited until Vicente Reynes (IAM) launched a long sprint. Moments later, he opened his engine and from there, the outcome was never in doubt as he distanced Reynes with several bike lengths.

 

Matthews was out of position and rolled across the line in third which was enough for him to extend his overall lead by 4 seconds courtesy of bonifications. He now leads Nairo Quintana (Movistar) by 8 seconds ad he heads into the fifth stage of the race. The 180km are mostly flat but in the finale, the riders will tackle a category 3 climb which should again make it one for the strong sprinters.

 

A classic finale

After yesterday’s first small test for the GC riders, the peloton tackled another tricky stage with a classic finish. The riders travelled over 164.7km from Mairena del Alcor to Cordoba and after a completely flat start, they faced a difficult finale with two small climbs. The final ascent was located 26km from the finish and from there it was a very technical descent preceding a flat 8km run-in to the finish.

 

All riders that finished yesterday’s stage took the start under very hot and sunny conditions, with the temperature set to reach more than 40 degrees at the finish in Cordoba. As expected, there was no big fight to join the early break and as it has been the case for the first few stages, the first attack was the one that laid the foundations for the move.

 

The break is formed

As usual, Francisco Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural) was part of the action and he was joined by Jimmy Engoulvent (Europcar), Sebastien Turgot (Ag2r) and Gert Joeaar (Cofidis) to form a front quartet. The group was allowed to build an advantage of 4 minutes before Orica-GreenEDGE hit the front and started to control the situation.

 

The Australian team started to gradually reel in the break and while Fabio Felline (Trek) who crashed two days ago, dropped back to get medical assistance, the gap started to come down. With 100km to go, the escapees were only 2.25 ahead.

 

Orica in control

Orica-GreenEDGE kept the gap stable around that mark for a long. In the meantime, the escapees contested the first intermediate sprint where Turgot beat Joeaar and Engoulvent.

 

Like yesterday, Brett Lancaster, Mitch Docker and Sam Bewley did the early work and with 66km to go, they had brought the gap down to 2.15. Now the fight for position really started and as all the GC teams moved up, the Orica riders got swamped.

 

A fight for position

Movistar, Tinkoff-Saxo, Garmin, Sky and OPQS were now riding next to each other and as they hit the first climb, the gap had come down to just 1.20. While riders started to drop off, Adriano Malori (Movistar) and Michael Valgren (Tinkoff) set the pace on the front.

 

When the gap had come down to 30 seconds, Engoulvent tried an attack that put Turgot into difficulty. The Ag2r rider briefly managed to rejoin the front group but then fell off the pace for good.

 

Siutsou sets the pace

While Kanstantsin Siutsou had taken over the pace-setting for Sky, Engoulvent launched a few attack and finally Joeaar had to surrender. As they approached the top, however, Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural) attacked and he flew past the front duo.

 

Engoulvent managed to drop Aramendia a few metres from the top and he rejoined Txurruka on the descent. Meanwhile, Javier Moreno (Movistar) and Ivan Rovny (Tinkoff) attacked on the descent and as more riders joined from behind, a 30-rider front group had formed.

 

Tinkoff try to attack

Behind, a combination of crosswinds and a technical descent had caused the peloton to split to pieces and now Tinkoff were riding hard on the front with Rovny and Daniele Bennati. Bouhanni was one of the riders to have been caught out but as all the GC riders had made the split, Tinkoff-Saxo stopped their attack.

 

Instead, all the groups came back together while Malori set a steady pace for Movistar. Txurruka and Hansen had now gained an advantage of 45 seconds but as they approached the first passage of the finish line, Movistar, Garmin, Tinkoff and Sky started to position their captains and the gap was now melting away.

 

Sky up the pace

Txurruka led Engoulvent across the line to win the final intermediate sprint while Matteo Tosatto (Tinkoff) and Dario Cataldo (Sky) were setting the pace in the peloton. At the bottom of the final climb, the breat was brought back as Belkin and Cannondale had now hit the front.

 

Lots of riders were getting dropped as Sky now upped the pace, first with Philip Deignan and then with Vasil Kiryienka. The Belarusian set a hard pace that gradually reduced the size of the group.

 

Bouhanni is dropped

Bouhanni was now riding at the back and when Jose Herrada took over for Movistar, the Frenchman was dropped. While the Movistar rider continued to power along, Matthews drifted to the back and he barely made it to the top with the best.

 

Just before the top, Anacona attacked and he was joined by Yates. Sicard took off in pursuit while Gorka Izagirre took over the pace-setting in the peloton.

 

Valverde makes his move

After Anacona had led Yates over the top, Valverde launched his move and both he and Sicard managed to join the front duo. This prompted Tinkoff-Saxo to react, with Sergio Paulinho leading the chase.

 

When the Portuguese swung off, the peloton slowed down which opened the door for Damiano Caruso to attack. Giant-Shimano briefly started to chase but they quickly left it to Alberto Losada (Katusha) to do the work.

 

The chase gets organized

He was assisted by Clarke and the pair started to reduce the advantage that had reached 25 seconds. While Cadel Evans (BMC) fought his way back from a puncture, Caruso was caught and now Mikel Nieve was also contributing to the chase for Sky.

 

Yates was no longer contributing to the pace-setting while Sicard managed to open a gap on the descent. Unfortunately, the Frenchman punctured, leaving just 3 riders in the breakaway.

 

Eduard Vorganov took over the pace-setting for Katusha and together with Clarke, he brought the gap down to less than 10 seconds. With 9km to go, the escapees decided to wait for the peloton and moments later, it was back together for the exciting finale.