Tom Dumoulin holds on to his second place in the overall as he and Lawson Craddock finished close behind stage winner Alejandro Valverde to take 13th and 27th respectively on stage 4 of the Vuelta.

Directly from the start six riders escaped and formed the break of the day to enjoy a maximum gap of more than 12’. Tinkoff – Saxo and Movistar Team did most of the chase work to catch the breakaway, as they saw opportunities on the uphill finish in Vejer de la Frontera.

With 11km to go the chase work paid off and the breakaway was caught back. John Degenkolb joined the attacks that directly started at the foot of the final ascent with 4km left. He was unable to hold the lead as the battle for both the GC and the stage victory continued.

It was no surprise that the uphill finish of stage 4 turned out to be ideal for the punchers and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) was the strongest among them today. Tom Dumoulin and Lawson Craddock finished close behind the day’s winner in 13th and 27th respectively. Dumoulin holds on to his second place in the overall, as Craddock climbs to 30th.

Coach Christian Guiberteau reflected on the stage:

“Our plan was to go for Tom and give John the freedom to explore his chances on the finishing ascent. We decided to not take the initiative in the chase in order to save our legs for tomorrow’s sprinting opportunity.

“In the end, around 30 riders had the chance to win today including Tom and Lawson. The guys worked together well on the positioning ahead of the final climb, so we can be satisfied about today.”

"The final climb was so steep, it was more to the likes of the smaller guys. And Sagan..," Dumoulin tweeted after the stage. "The boys showed @GiantAlpecin leadout timing once again to drop me off in the front at the climb! Thanks guys! I was not good enough though."