Max Richeze wins stage 4 at Vuelta a San Juan

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Max Richeze (Quick-Step Floors) emerged from the chaos of stage 4 at the Vuelta a San Juan on Wednesday to take the stage win in bunch sprint ahead of Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo).

Wednesday's stage 4 from San Jose Jachal to Valle Fertile-Villa San Agustin was the longest of the week at 182.2km, but heavy rains the night before caused multiple washouts of roads along the route, forcing organisers to delay the start by an hour so street crews could let water recede and clear debris.

The stage was marked by a serious crash 45km from the finish that took out stage 1 winner Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) and two other riders, but Quick-Step persevered for the win.

"I am very happy that I can win this stage," the 34-year-old Argentinean said in the post-stage press conference. "We have lost Fernando Gaviria in a crash and he has abandoned the race. But after that the team decided to prepare this sprint for me. What they do for Fernando they did for me. Maybe the perfect work for me, so I am happy I can win here in my home in Argentina."

In the closing kilometres Bora-Hansgrohe, Trek-Segafredo and Israel Cycling Academy battled for the win, with Richeze taking the lead early and holding off all comers as he crossed the line for the win. Bora's Matteo Pelucchi was third on the day, while Filippo Ganna remained in the overall race lead ahead of Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Oscar Sevilla (Medellin-Inter).

How it unfolded

The peloton raced a decisive time trial during the previous day's stage 3 won by Irishman Ryan Mullen (Trek-Segafredo). The stage saw Ganna place second and move into the overall race lead ahead of stage 4. Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) sat second overall, five seconds behind Ganna, while Oscar Sevilla (Medellin-Inter) moved into third overall, 11 seconds back, heading into the stage.

The route featured three KOMs, all on the same climb through Ichigualasto Park, famous for its dinosaur fossils. The first category 3 KOM at the bottom of the climb came at 87km in the day, the second at 93km and the third at 101.5km. The last two were category 1 KOMs.

The climb was significant, but it topped out more than 80 kilometres from the finish, giving the sprinters hope for another opportunity at a stage win.

Two intermediate sprints with time bonuses of three, two and one second came at 33km and 143.2km. Although crews were able to clear most of the roads the continuing run off from the rainstorms turned part of the route into a veritable stream crossing about 20km from the finish.

The stage started with a quickly formed breakaway that included Alex Cano (Coldeportes-Zenu), Gerardo Tivani (Municipalidad De Pocito), who got an early flat, Alan Presa (Uruguay), Daniel Juárez (Asociacion Civil Mardan), Pablo Alarcón (Canel's-Specialized), Daniel Eaton (UnitedHealthcare), and Adrian Richeze (A.C.A. Virgen De Fatima), and later joined by Robinson Oyola and José Santoyo.

The group gained nearly three minutes before the first intermediate sprint won by Alarcón. Cano was the highest placed on GC at 1:34 back from Ganna and he became the virtual race leader.

Juárez sprinted across the line at the top of the first and second ascent picking up full points toward the mountain classification. Cano took points on the third KOM. The fight for points did not disrupt the well-working breakaway and they maitained 3:20 gap heading into the second half of the stage.

A crash took down Gaviria along with former race leader Ricardo Escuela (A.C.A. Virgen De Fatima) and Ruben Ramos (Argentina) with about 45km to the finish.

The breakaway was still out front, only just long enough for Juárez to win the second intermediate sprint. Organisers neutralised the section of the race that had flooded. The peloton regrouped once the riders crossed the river area.

The neutralisation happened close to the finish, roughly 25km out, and sprint teams had enough time to set up their teams for the finale in Valle Fertile-Villa San Agustin.

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