Nairo Quintana (Movistar) used a gutsy attack on the final, short descent from the top of the final climb of today's fourth stage of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco to take his second WorldTour stage victory of the season. Sergio Henao (Sky) led home a group of favourites 2 seconds later to defend his leader's jersey after another 1-2 finish for Colombia.

 

Colombia dominates the world of cycling these days. After yesterday's 1-2-4 by Sergio Henao, Carlos Betancur (Ag2r) and Nairo Quintana, the trio repeated the performance in today's queen stage of the hilly Vuelta al Pais Vasco. This time it was Quintana eclipsing race leader Henao while Betancur finished 4th.

 

Quintana attacked on the final 1km descent from the top of the day's final climb after a group of favourites had gone clear on the steep slopes. Henao, Quintana, Betancur, Alberto Contador (Team Saxo-Tinkoff), Richie Porte (Team Sky) and Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r) caught a brave Simon Spilak (Katusha) who had attacked from the bottom of the climb and with Porte setting a blistering tempo, the group crested the summit together.

 

On a wet day, the final descent was extremely dangerous, and Quintana was willing to take the most risks as he powered clear of his fellow climbers. He held off the group by 2 seconds to be the one to break Samuel Sanchez' streak in the Arrate stage after the Euskaltel captain won in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

 

The slick roads made the final treacherous, and Peraud was unlucky to crash just as he passed the finish line. Moments later Talansky fell off his bike in exactly the same spot, but both riders seemed to escape their incidents relatively unscathed.

 

Henao limited the damage and maintains his overall lead ahead of Quintana who is now 6 seconds behind. However, both Colombians failed to take sufficiently time out of time triallists like Contador and Porte ahead of the final day's race against the clock. They will have a final chance to increase their advantage in tomorrow's penultimate stage which by many is predicted to be the hardest of the race.

 

Starting at 14.45, you can follow all the drama tomorrow on cyclingquotes.com/live.

 

 

Velits strikes back

The 151,6km queen stage was the highly anticipated Arrate stage which has been part of the race route since the 2009 edition. After a flat early part, the riders hit the first of 5 categorized climbs after 50km of racing, and from then on it was up and down all day. The top of the final climb was located just 1km from the finish and then it was a fast descent all the way down to the line.

 

The start was fast and furious with a number of attacks going clear. At some point a group containing Nicolas Roche (Saxo-Tinkoff) and Andy Schleck (Radioshack) had a small gap, but Sky closed it down moments later.

 

Finally, 5 riders managed to escape. Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) had been disappointed to drop out of GC contention yesterday, and he was out for revenge. He was joined by Rein Taaramae (Cofidis), Eduard Vorganov (Katusha), Daniele Ratto (Cannondale) and Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r) in the day's early break.

 

They were allowed to built up a gap of just above the five minute mark before the Sky team of race leader Henao put Joe Dombrowski and Jonathan Tiernan-Locke on the front. The duo managed to stabilize the gap for most of the stage which was held in rainy conditions all day.

 

The break splits up

On the day's third climb, the category 1 Aalto de Ixua, Taaramae and Vorganov were dropped from the front group. Ratto also had a moment of crisis because of the high pace set by Velits, but he managed to get back on the descent. Behind, it was still Dombrowski setting a hard tempo which forced a number of riders - among them Andy Schleck - to drop off.

 

On the penultimate climb, Quintana decided that he wanted a hard race, and he put Jonathan Castroviejo and Javier Moreno on the front of the peloton. The gap started to come down rapidly, and the 3-man group was less than 3 minutes ahead at the top of the climb.

 

As the peloton approached the final climb, more teams decided to contribute to the chase. Gorka Izagirre (Euskaltel) and an Astana rider joined Movistar before Vasil Kiryienka (Sky) took his usual position at the front of the peloton.

 

Spilak goes on the attack

As they started, the final climb Castroviejo once again took up the pace-making to prepare an attack by teammate Jose Herrada. The Spaniard was later joined by Pieter Weening (Orica-GreenEdge) and Spilak.

 

Spilak was by far the strongest. He dropped his companions before he went on to catch and leave behind the Velits and Montaguti who had once again seen Ratto disappear. Spilak continued on his own, as he was a clear GC threat somebody had to react from behind.

 

Henao put in an acceleration, but he was immediately joined by Quintana, Contador and a number of other riders. Moments later Porte went to the front and set a hard tempo which reduced the group to just a 6-man group. They caught Weening who was almost immediately dropped, and Spilak was now the lone survivor ahead of the favourite group.

 

The Slovenian was caught less than a kilometer from the top, and Porte's hard tempo made it impossible for anyone to attack. As the group crested the summit, Quintana took the front position. He took a number of risks on the descent and gapped his companions to take his second WorldTour stage victory after his victory a couple of weeks ago in the Volta a Catalunya.

 

Result:

1. Nairo Quitana

2. Sergio Henao +0.02

3. Alberto Contador

4. Carlos Betancur

5. Simon Spilak

6. Richie Porte

7. Jean-Christophe Peraud

8. Pieter Weening +0.16

9. Samuel Sanchez +0.23

10. Alberto Losada

 

General classification:

1. Sergio Henao

2. Nairo Quintana

3. Richie Porte

4. Alberto Contador

5. Simon Spilak

6. Carlos Betancur

7. Jean-Christophe Peraud

8. Pieter Weening

9. Giampaolo Caruso

10. Samuel Sanchez