Two years after taking five stage wins in the race, John Degenkolb returned to his winning ways in the Vuelta a Espana when he won today's stage 4. The German admitted that he had made a gamle as he tried to stay with the best on the final climb, using up a lot of energy that he could potentially have needed in tomorrow's stage.

John Degenkolb has sprinted to an emphatic victory on stage four of the Vuelta a España today into Córdoba, completing the team’s second year of a hat trick of wins in all three Grand Tours of this season, and making it the seventh Grand Tour in a row where the team have won a stage.

Degenkolb dug deep to make it over the day’s main climb, a second category ascent in the final 30 kilometres, while other sprinters dropped off the pace. At the finish he was privy to a strong lead-out from Chad Haga, putting him in a perfect position to finish off the job in style.

Team Giant-Shimano rallied around both Degenkolb and Warren Barguil, with riders making sure they were well hydrated, in position, and even keeping everyone cool with the use of ice socks. The decisive point of the stage was, as expected, the final climb of the day, a second category ascent that crested with just under 30km to race.

The pace was hard but with the help of the team Degenkolb was able to stay well positioned and he kept fighting all the way over the top of the climb to stay in contact and make the select front group down the other side.

Degenkolb had Barguil together with the team’s two Texans, Lawson Craddock and birthday boy Chad Haga for company and they set about positioning him and keeping the front group together for the sprint which, which John opened up his effort was always going one way.

Barguil also continued to climb the general classification after today’s stage, moving up a further two places to 14th.

“It was like riding in a sauna today, it was impossible to get enough drink and ice,” Degenkolb saud after returning to the team hotel. “The team were great firstly before the climb in helping with this then after in positioning me and chasing the attacks. Birthday boy Chad especially did a fabulous job and it’s nice to make him a birthday present.

“It’s a long time since my last win, I counted last night and it’s a lot of second places since winning Gent Wevelgem so it’s a big relief to be back winning. Since then, I’ve tried to win stages here and there since, at the Tour of California, at the Tour de Suisse, at the Tour de France...

"I’ve come second many times [at Paris-Roubaix, GP Frankfurt, two stages of the Tour of California, German national championship, two stages of the Tour de France, stage 2 of the Vuelta a España]. It didn’t make me unhappy but it gave me the motivation to train hard and come back in good shape at races. After all these disappointments, it’s such a big relief to cross the line as a winner.

"It was a bit of a gamble. I knew that if I didn’t succeed today, it would have taken some energy that I’d need tomorrow but I just tried to give everything today. Had the others ridden full gas over the climb, I had no chance to sprint for victory. In the end, it just worked out and now it’s just happiness and it boosts my confidence for tomorrow.

"I needed luck and today, everything was perfect. It was definitely not an easy win for me. I had to handle the heat and suffer over the climb. Yesterday, I was overheated and today I tried to drink and put ice on myself as much as possible.

"More than a frustration, I felt a huge disappointment [about being injured in the Tour]. Because I was injured, I realized I didn’t have the luck to win a stage. I crashed pretty hard and it influenced my whole Tour de France.

"I’m back now and stronger. I’m here at the Vuelta also to get in the best possible shape for the world championship even if it’s still a long way away. Being in Spain before the World’s is the best way to adjust to the climate conditions and prepare for the Worlds in Spain."

“It was fairly easy today until the first climb of the day where it got really hot and hard, and the pace never let up,” said birthday boy Haga. ”When we hit the final climb it was full gas. We were working hard to keep John and Warren at the front as we knew it would explode.

“We ended up getting over the top and down the bottom with four of us in the front group and from there it was about doing what we had to do.

“It is great to be here and to learn at a Grand Tour – I just keep getting goose bumps thinking about being part of a stage win like this.”

“I tried to put John [Degenkolb] in a good position on the climb but I couldn’t follow," Koen de Kort said. "Obviously some other guys stayed with him and he delivered a great victory. Today’s stage was the one we had on paper as an opportunity for John to win. But it was so hard racing under the heat! In the first hour I drank six bottles then I stopped counting. I put ice on my neck but nothing was working.”

Coach Christian Guiberteau added: ”That was a really big performance from John and the team to get over the climb today. We knew it would be tough but made a plan to go for it.

“Having Lawson and Chad together with Warren with John at the finish put us in a strong position. The whole team did a great job all day in supporting both John and Warren and it paid off.”