Giro d'Italia: Wellens wins stage 4

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Tim Wellens (Lotto Fix All) channelled his Ardennes Classics skills to win stage 3's steep uphill finish in Caltagirone at the Giro d'Italia. The double-digit gradient and attacks caused Chris Froome (Team Sky) to lose precious seconds to his overall rivals in the final kilometre.

Wellens timed his final effort to the line perfectly to hold off Michael Woods (EF Education First-Drapac), with Enrico Battaglin (LottoNL-Jumbo) finishing third after opening up the sprint.

Everyone else fought to hold their wheels and avoid splits in the select front group. Maglia rosa Rohan Dennis (BMC) finished in the wheels and was timed at four seconds behind Wellens, in the same time as Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) and most of his other overall rivals.

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Dennis kept the pink jersey for another day and leads Dumoulin by one second, with Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) moving up to third overall at 17 seconds. Wellens is now fourth overall at 19 seconds.

Froome finished much further back, and with a gap in the line of riders timed at greater than a second, he was classified as finishing 21 seconds down on Wellens. He tried to dismiss the time loss as 'racing' but after also losing 37 seconds in the opening Jerusalem time trial, which Dumoulin won; he now sits 55 seconds behind maglia rosa Dennis in the overall classification and 54 seconds behind Dumoulin.

The 202km stage from Catania included over 3,000 metres of climbing on twisting narrow country roads, making for a nervous five hours in the saddle but inspiring Wellens and his Lotto Fix All team, which lead him to the foot of the 13 per cent kick up to the finish.

"This feels much more special because until the last 150 metres I was not sure of winning, so then when you pass over the finish line, it feels so good," Wellens said immediately after his victory.

"It was turning and twisting all day; it was not so easy. In the end, my teammates took me perfectly to the front. Adam [Hansen] did a really long pull, and then Tosh [Van der Sande] was pulling, and it was splitting behind us. I had to be careful not to go too soon because I knew it as still far out. I had a little advantage and so could start the climb easy, then I went full gas at 200 metres."

Dennis admitted he had thought about trying to win the stage but then focused on defending the maglia rosa.

"It's great to keep the jersey for a bit longer. The guys did everything possible to put me in the right position. Then I had [Alessandro] De Marchi and Nico Roche for the finale if I got into trouble. There was a little bit of stress but not too much," Dennis said.

"I was hoping that I could maybe even take the sprint. But with 150 metres to go, I saw I wasn't good enough, and so I held the wheel and made sure there were no gaps to Dumoulin."

Would the constant hills and steep finish inspire attacks?

As the riders gathered in central Catania after the transfer from Israel and the partial rest day in the area, there was a general feeling that the Giro d'Italia was about to get a lot more serious with three hard days of racing in Sicily.

Would the 202km stage split the peloton and see the overall contenders try to test each other? Would BMC chase the break to defend Rohan Dennis' pink jersey or let it go? Riders were worried about the prospect of a hard day across central Sicily.

BMC quickly showed they wanted to keep the maglia rosa when the break of the day formed after 25km of attacks on the flat roads south of Catania. BMC put four riders on the front to set a steady tempo.

The break included Enrico Barbin (Bardiani-CSF), Marco Frapporti (Androni-Giocattoli), Jacopo Mosca (Wilier-Triestina), Maxim Belkov (Katusha-Alpecin) and Quentin Jauregui (AG2R La Mondiale). Barbin was chasing points to defend his lead in the mountains competition, while Frapporti again marked him close in the fight for the blue jersey.

The five opened a three-minute lead as the stage headed inland into the rolling Sicilian roads. Jaurégui was the youngest rider in the breakaway after turning 24 just last month. The Frenchman stepped into professional racing with AG2R La Mondiale in 2015, and this is his second time at the corsa rosa after making his debut last year.

Barbin made sure he took maximum points at the first categorised climb after 82km, sprinting through the huge crowds that gathered to welcome the riders to Pietre Calde. The village marked the true start of the rolling country roads, with a painful shark's tooth profile all the way to Caltagirone, with Jempy Drucker and Fran Ventoso doing the hard work for BMC and Dennis.

UAE Team Emirates try an attack

The feed zone came at the halfway point of the stage, but Fabio Aru's UAE Team Emirates showed little respect for peloton etiquette. Three riders suddenly upped the pace, taking over from BMC in a clear attempt to break up the peloton and test their rivals.

Their surged worked for a while, splitting the peloton into three groups and causing panic and concern, considering there as still 105km to the finish. The gap to the break fell from 1:40 to just 25 seconds and suddenly the race was on.

However, UAE Team Emirates were not fully convinced about their attack and the call came via radio from the team car to knock off the high pace. The chasers, including unlucky puncture victim, soon got back and so the move ran out of speed and enthusiasm.

The five took the chance to push out their lead again, while some of the sprinters suffered at the back of the pack. Andrea Guardini (Bardiani-CSF) has been struggling with illness since travelling to Israel for the Grand Partenza, and he finally cracked and quit mid-way through the stage.

Frapporti won the first intermediate sprint in Palazzolo Acreide, and then Mosca made sure he won the second in Monterosso Almo after 133km. The peloton rode through the stunning Baroque architecture of the hilltop villages, but the riders had little time to enjoy the views. A split-second distraction was enough to risk a crash as the country roads snaked left and right, up and down.

Barbin kicked again in Vizzini to win the second and final mountain sprint. He was the strongest climber in the move despite being on the attack on each of the three road stages so far in this year's Giro d'Italia.

Wisely he sat soon after the climb, dropping back to the peloton with Jauregui. Mosca, Frapporti and Belkov pushed on. Mitchelton-Scott decided to help with the chase, sending veteran Svein Tuft up to the front to give BMC a welcome hand.

The peloton stayed together despite the testing stage profile, with the domestiques having to do the hard work of collecting fresh bidons and then taking up to their team leaders in the fast-moving group. It was vital to hold a position near the front of the peloton to save energy for the hilly finale and kick up to Caltagirone.

Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) was unlucky to flat with 30km to go. He quickly got a wheel but had to chase for 10km before returning to the safety of the peloton.

Jose Goncalves was the next needing help with 20km to go. He takes a teammates bike but had a problem with his bars, sending his Katusha-Alpecin team car into a panic. Both eventually stopped to resolve a bar problem. Fortunately the peloton had eased as they were about to catch the break.

Gruppo compatto occurred with 13km to go just as Team Sky appeared on the front to protect Chris Froome. The riders caught their breath for a second but then Enrico Zardini (Wilier Triestina) and Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates) were the first to jump away.

Zardini soon struggled, but Conti pushed on alone, forcing Lotto Fix All to pick-up the chase. Behind the sprinters, including double winner Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) were spat out of the back by the high pace. A narrowing of the road sparked a crash and split the peloton, leaving Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step Floors) behind. Best young rider Maximilian Schachmann crashed on a corner as the huge crowds narrowed the roads but it occurred in the final three kilometres, and so he did not lose time and kept the white jersey.

When Battaglin kicked early, Wellens got on his wheel and then passed him as the finish line approached. It was his second stage victory at the Giro d'Italia after winning in Roccaraso in 2016.

Watch stage 4 highlights of the Giro d'Italia in the InCycle video below.

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