Cycling
FOURTH STAGE
AGENCIES | EITB MEDIA
Published: 2024-08-20 19:19 (UTC+2) Last updated: 2024-08-20 19:44 (UTC+2)
Mikel Landa joins the leading group and moves up to ninth place in the general classification, 58 seconds behind the Slovenian.
Read in Basque: Roglic has dominated the Pico Villuercas pass, and he is the new leader of the Vuelta
The Slovenian cyclist Primoz Roglic (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe) won this Tuesday in the fourth stage of La Vuelta 2024, disputed between the Extremaduran town of Plasencia and Pico Villuercas over 170.5 kilometers, and became the new leader of the general classification after the previous red jersey, the Belgian Wout van Aert (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) will be cut off from the peloton at the start of the last climb.
The breakaway of the day was formed by five cyclists, including the Biscayan Mikel Bizkarra (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and the Aragonese of Kern Pharma Pablo Castrillo. Both were accompanied by the Belgian Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto Dstny), the Italian Filippo Zana (Team Jayco AlUla) and the French Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), who was the virtual leader of the race for much of the day.
The latter together with Castrillo They were the strongest of the breakaway and managed to stretch their adventure until the last kilometers of the climb to Pico Villuercas, a very tough climb that put several favorites, including the current winner, on the ropes. Sepp Kiss (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), who lost 28 seconds in the first major test.
The peloton began the final climb with just over 15 kilometres to go, with the breakaways 1:30 ahead of the group, in which UAE Team Emirates riders emerged to gain positions and tighten the rope. The first to try it was precisely from the Emirati team, the French Pavel Sivakovwho made the first bet and forced the favorites to react.
Among these, Roglic appeared in person to demonstrate his good form after a year marked by falls and injuries. Along with him, he responded Enrique Maswho never left the Slovenian’s side.
Runners like the Austrian also appeared Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), who tried to surprise the favourites, as well as the Belgian Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto Dstny) and the American Matthew Riccitelo (Israel Premier Pro Tech), who played their cards to take the stage win.
The sextet was completed by the Portuguese John Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), who, as usual, was climbing positions to end up catching up with the group, something that the Alava native also did. Mikel Landa (T-REX QuickStep), who struggled to close the gap on his rivals.
The Murgia native tried to surprise from the back of the group by sprinting in the final kilometre, but the speed of Roglic and they go Eating field In the last few metres, the Slovenian took the victory to achieve his thirteenth victory in the Spanish round, in which he will once again wear the leader’s jersey with only eight seconds ahead of him. Almeida. Landa is in ninth place, almost a minute behind (58).
The race will take place on Wednesday in its fifth day, a flat stage covering 177 kilometres between Fuente del Maestre and Seville, which will offer the third opportunity for victory for the sprinters.