Giro d'Italia: Which GC contenders lost time on stage 4

SESTOLA ITALY MAY 11 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez of Colombia and Team INEOS Grenadiers during the 104th Giro dItalia 2021 Stage 4 a 187km stage from Piacenza to Sestola 1020m Rain girodiitalia Giro UCIworldtour on May 11 2021 in Sestola Italy Photo by Tim de WaeleGetty Images
Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) was one of the GC winners of stage 4 (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

The fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia was the toughest day of racing yet, taking in 187 kilometers, over 3,000 metres of elevation, and hours of terrible weather on the road to Sestola in the northern Apennines.

The day was always going to be the first major general classification flashpoint of the race, with the 4.3-kilometer, 9.9 per cent Colle Passerino coming two kilometers from the finish, and it did not disappoint.

Israel Start-Up Nation's Alessandro De Marchi captured the maglia rosa after taking second place from the breakaway behind Joe Dombrowski (UAE Team Emirates), but further down the climb, the general classification heavyweights were landing their first blows of the Giro.

How hard a day it was in the saddle was made evident on the final climb, as a select group of GC men separated themselves from the rest.

Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) was among the big GC winners of the day. The Colombian, making his Giro debut this year, led Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana-Premier Tech), Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious), and Hugh Carthy (EF Education-Nippo) across the line, 1:37 down on Dombrowski but with time in hand over the rest of the big contenders.

Ciccone and Landa had been the first men to attack, at 4 and 3.5 kilometers out respectively, luring the others across as they sought to distance the likes of Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange), Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep), and Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo), among others.

They succeeded, with Bernal, Vlasov, and Carthy chasing across midway up the climb, and the group making 11 seconds on the next group of GC men at the line.

Evenepoel led that group into Sestola, the young Belgian joined by Yates, Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation), Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates), and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious).

23 seconds passed before Vincenzo Nibali's group came home. The two-time winner was among those shedding 34 seconds to the Bernal group and was accompanied across the line by Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Domenico Pozzovivo (Qhubeka Assos), Jai Hindley (Team DSM), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Marc Soler (Movistar), and the Ineos Grenadiers duo of Pavel Sivakov and Daniel Martínez.

Jumbo-Visma's George Bennett will be disappointed tonight, too, having finished 3:06 down and losing 1:29 to Bernal's group.

A revelation of the race last year, João Almeida's hopes of overall contention already look over after the 22-year-old was dropped five kilometers from the finish. Deceuninck-QuickStep will now have all their eggs in the Evenepoel basket after Almeida shed minutes at the finish, eventually crossing the line 5:58 after the winner.

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Results
Pos.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
7Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech
8Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:04
10Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education-Nippo 0:00:14
11Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:15
12Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 0:00:19
13Davide Formolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:20
15Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Bahrain Victorious 0:00:25
16Simon Yates (GBr) Team BikeExchange
18Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:32
19Romain Bardet (Fra) Team DSM 0:00:39
20Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:00:41
21Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:00:44
22Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Ineos Grenadiers
23Daniel Martinez Poveda (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:46
24Pello Bilbao Lopez De Armentia (Spa) Bahrain Victorious 0:00:48
25Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:51
26Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:52
27Jai Hindley (Aus) Team DSM 0:00:56
29Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:05
34George Bennett (NZl) Jumbo-Visma 0:01:46
42João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:04:14

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Daniel Ostanek
Production editor

Daniel Ostanek is production editor at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired as staff writer. Prior to joining the team, he had written for most major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly, Rouleur, and CyclingTips.

 

Daniel has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France and the spring Classics, and has interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel, Demi Vollering, and Anna van der Breggen.

 

As well as original reporting, news and feature writing, and production work, Daniel also runs The Leadout newsletter and oversees How to Watch guides throughout the season. His favourite races are Strade Bianche and the Volta a Portugal, and he rides a Colnago C40.