Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) soloed to victory on stage 4 of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana after attacking on the final climb, the Cumbre del Sol (Puig de la Llorença), with 13km to go.
The win, Evenepoel's fifth of seven race days with his new team, comes after the Belgian was denied a general classification benefit to his time trial stage victory due to high winds on Thursday.
João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) out-sprinted Evenepoel's teammate Giulio Pellizzari for second on the stage, 24 seconds behind Evenepoel.
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"I went quite all out for the beyond the last part of Cumbre del Sol, and then once we turned left on the big road, it was headwind, so it was really hard to keep it up, but I know if it's hard for me, it's also hard for the guys in the back, so I just kept pushing," Evenepoel said.
"Just one word for the team, they were really incredible today. I think from the first meters to the very last ones, they worked for me. Everybody did their their part of the job. Nobody helped us, which, I mean, I completely understand. And to finish it off like this, with the plan like we exactly wanted, is just amazing. And also Giulio still finished third after such a strong work, it's really incredible."
Evenepoel moved into the yellow jersey as the mountains did not suit overnight leader Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling). He now holds a 29-second advantage over Almeida with Pellizzari third at 31 seconds.
"It was a fast day, quite hard. I did my best but Remco is just strong," Almeida said, adding that the final climb was too short and steep for him. "If it was a bit longer it would be better for me."
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The Portuguese rider noted that Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) did not contribute much to the chase of Evenepoel while the pair had Pellizzari in tow.
"We were two in a group and one who didn't really work. I think if we went all out we could have caught him, but I think Antonio was looking a bit to save the legs."
How it unfolded
The penultimate stage of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, 172 kilometres from La Nucía to Teulada Moraira, started with the popular Coll de Rates climb, topping out after 20 kilometres.
There were no Strava records on this day, as the race went up the opposite direction from the hotly contested segment. A breakaway of eight riders went clear in the first kilometres of the stage and built up a lead of three minutes.
The move included Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Steff Cras (Soudal-Quickstep), Lewis Askey (NSN Cycling), Danny van der Tuuk (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Fernando Tercero (Polti VisitMalta), Carlos Garcia Pierna (Burgos Burpellet BH), and Tommaso Nencini (Solution Tech Nippo Rali).
After the second climb, the category 1 Alto del Miserat, the breakaway's lead was down below two minutes and it hovered steadily just above one minute on the flatter second half of the stage.
Nencini dropped and caught 42km to go, Van der Tuuk reeled in two kilometres later, leaving the other six to fight off the chasing peloton.
The Alto de la Fustera wasn't the toughest climb of the day but the long effort began to wear on the 1.8km ascent, with Askey, Tercero, Garcia Pierna, and Otruba dropped.
The neutral service cars were pulled out of the gap with 26km to go as the breakaway duo's lead dropped to just 33 seconds.
Cras and Bernard in the lead (Image credit: Getty Images)
Bernard was climbing the Puig de la Llorença with 15km to go when Cras let him go and dropped back to the UAE Team Emirates-XRG-led peloton.
The Frenchman was in sight and the GC group was reduced to just seven riders, but Evenepoel was still sitting comfortably in the first chase with teammate Giulio Pellizzari.
Evenepoel started to surge with 13km to go and left everyone behind. Antonio Tiberi and João Almeida chased but, with Pellizzari tacked on, they had a tactical conundrum.
Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) bridged across with 8km to go, which helped but he didn't last long and the gap to Evenepoel did not come down and he easily claimed the win.
Laura Weislo is a Cyclingnews veteran of 20 years. Having joined in 2006, Laura extensively covered the Operacion Puerto doping scandal, the years-long conflict between the UCI and the Tour de France organisers ASO over the creation of the WorldTour, and the downfall of Lance Armstrong and his lifetime ban for doping. As Managing Editor, Laura coordinates coverage for North American events and global news.
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