Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) sped to his third win of the season and second of the race on stage 4 of Tirreno-Adriatico, the Dutchman proving the quickest finisher from a select group of 14 at the end of a challenging hilly stage.
Wearing the ciclamino jersey of points leader following his stage 2 triumph, Van der Poel was the fastest to respond to a late surge from Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), jumping off the Italian's wheel to power well clear of his rivals and secure a clear victory by the beach in Martinsicuro.
Van der Poel led home Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) at the line, while Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) finished 10th to retain his race lead.
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"It was quite a hard day with a strong breakaway. The pace was really high all day," Van der Poel said later.
"In the end, Visma did a really good job. I could gamble a bit because I already won my stage. I just waited for the sprint, and I think I did everything perfectly in the last kilometre. I was expecting a late attack from Filippo Ganna. I also knew Visma was going to take a sprint with Wout.
"I just tried to react immediately on everything. I launched my sprint a bit too early, maybe. With the headwind, it was quite far away from the finish line. Luckily, I managed to get it to the line.
"It was a flat sprint, but everything that came before was not so flat. It was a hard day. I’m really happy to finish it off. I’m in a good shape."
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The result sees a shakeup at the top of the general classification, with Pellizzari taking the leader's blue jersey thanks to the six bonus seconds he gained on the line. Having previously sat four seconds behind Del Toro, he now holds the race lead by two seconds with three stages to race. Red Bull teammate Primož Roglič lies in third overall at 21 seconds.
The group had gone clear on the final climb of four on the 213km stage after Visma-Lease a Bike had pushed the pace up the steep slopes of Tortoreto with 12.6km to run. From there, the day was always likely to end with a sprint contested among the leaders, and so it proved.
First Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), and then Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) led out the sprint, before Ganna stole a march on the rest with Andrea Vendrame (Jayco-AlUla) on his wheel.
Van der Poel reacted first, jumping on the wheel and then surging clear, adding another victory to previous triumphs in 2026 at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and on Tuesday at San Gimignano.
How in unfolded
Stage 4 of Tirreno-Adriatico brought a return to the hills with four classified climbs and 2,700 metres of elevation on the menu. Long climbs of Ovindoli (11.9km at 4.9%) and the Valico delle Capannelle (12.9km at 4.5%) in the Apennines marked the first half of the stage before a long descent towards the Adriatic Coast.
The final 50km of the 213km stage would bring two smaller hills in the form of Castellalto (7.6km at 4.5%) with 49km to go, and Tortoreto (1.5km at 8.4%) at 12.6km from the line, a flat finish in Martinsicuro. In contrast to stage 3, there were attacks from the start of the day and the break formed quickly, after 8km of racing.
In the move were Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Liam Slock (Lotto-Intermarché), Iván García Cortina (Movistar), Laurenz Rex (Soudal-QuickStep), Dries De Bondt (Jayco-AlUla), Timo Kielich (Visma-Lease a Bike), Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Mattia Gaffuri (Picnic-PostNL), Diego Sevilla (Polti-VisitMalta), and Larry Warbasse (Tudor).
The group was let go by the peloton, which was led by UAE Team Emirates-XRG in service of race leader Isaac del Toro, though Rémy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ United) went on the attack to try and bridge across.
The Frenchman soloed across the gap on the climb up Ovindoli, eventually making contact with the breakaway riders with 176km to run to make it 12 men out front.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
He and his breakmates gained a maximum of three minutes on the peloton, while Sevilla added five points to his mountain classification lead over the top of the first ascent, the day's highest point at 1,368 metres.
The ascent of the Valico delle Capannelle saw the break's advantage fall to two minutes, though there would be plenty of time to make the catch later in the day.
At the top of the climb, Sevilla once again led the way, beating Rochas and Slock. Another 15 mountain points for the Spaniard took his total in the competition to 30, 17 up on the new second-placed man, Rochas.
The long descent off the climb, almost 50km, saw the break's advantage rise once again to three minutes before falling back down as the climb of Castellalto approached. At the head of the peloton, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe joined UAE in the pacemaking.
Rochas attacked on the hill to claim five mountain points to Sevilla's three, while the break split up on the other side. Del Grosso, Slock, García Cortina, Abrahamsen, Otruba, Gaffuri, and Warbasse made the front group, chased by the rest as they raced into the final 40km.
The peloton, meanwhile, continued at two minutes down, with Ineos Grenadiers, Visma-Lease a Bike, and Decathlon-CMA CGM joining the fray at the front. Sevilla, his work done for the day, was soon back among their number.
Out front, the break was back together as 11 by the 30km mark, though the attacking kept on coming. García Cortina's move was countered by several others, but it was Otruba who managed to go solo, leading the way over the intermediate sprint at 27km to go. He raced to a 30-second lead, while further back, the peloton closed in to within a minute.
Otruba was left out front alone at the 17km mark as Visma-Lease a Bike brought back his former breakmates. The Czech rider continued with a small gap, but he too was caught with 14km left as the final climb up Tortoreto began.
Visma duo Matteo Jorgenson and Wout van Aert led a reduced group up the steep early slopes, with the big names, including Del Toro, van der Poel, and Pellizzari, all hanging in there.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
A group of 12 survived over the top, also including Ganna, Roglič, Johannessen, Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Alessandro Pinarello (NSN), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), and Clément Champoussin (XDS-Astana).
The descent saw Vendrame and Christen make it across to swell the group's numbers to 14, while the group on the road lay at almost 30 seconds down with 7km to run.
Jorgenson drove the group into the final kilometres with Van Aert and Van der Poel on his wheel, even briefly attempting a move of his own at 4km from the line.
Thereafter, he settled back into his leadout role, setting up a Classics-style sprint finish by the Adriatic Sea. As the leaders hit the final kilometre, the chasers closed to within 15 seconds, but it wasn't enough to change the outcome of the day.
In the end, Christen ended up leading things out while Ganna and Vendrame sped up the other side of the road. Van Aert and Van der Poel were quick to respond, though it was the Dutchman who possessed the greater finishing kick, blowing his rivals away to go well clear and even ease up to celebrate before the finish line.
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor, later being hired full-time. Her favourite races include Strade Bianche, the Tour de France Femmes, Paris-Roubaix, and Tro-Bro Léon.
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