Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali: Vingegaard wins stage 4

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Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) charged up the final climb into San Marino to win stage 4 of Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali on Friday, while retaining the overall lead for a third consecutive day.

Javier Romo (Astana-Premier Tech) finished second, Nick Schultz (Team BikeExchange) was third, and stage 3 winner Ethan Hayter rolled across the line in fourth.

Earning the bonus seconds at the line, the 24-year-old Dane heads into the final stage on Saturday with a seven-second advantage over Schultz on the GC lead, with Hayter 11 seconds back.

The final 2.4km climb with a 6.8 per cent gradient to the Piazzale dello Stradone proved decisive. From a 35-rider group, Romo, just 10 seconds out of the GC lead, launched an attack in the final kilometer. But an attentive Vingegaard took the reins in pursuit of the young Spaniard and made the pass on the climb to secure his second win of the week.

“It is again a nice victory for me and the team. I could not have done it without the rest of the team," Vingegaard said after the victory. 

"I knew I could win this stage. That is why I reacted on every attack in the final kilometres, also to stay in the front. In the sprint I finally had enough left to win the stage. Tomorrow I expect a heavy stage, but I will do everything to win the final classification.”

How it unfolded

Under bright, blue skies in San Marino, the peloton began work promptly on the penultimate stage of the Coppi e Bartali with a flurry of attacks just five kilometres into the 154.8km journey. The first 100km would take riders on two laps around San Marino, then route them on six laps of 9km each. In total, there would be more than 4,000 metres of climbing with seven passes across Mount Titan.

The first large lap saw an ebb and flow of attacks, which resembled the stage’s up and down profile, and eventually set up with an 11-rider group - Manuele Boaro (Astana), Abner Gonzalez (Movistar), Tzomin Juaristi and Xabier Mikel Azparren (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Edoardo Zardini (Vini Zabù), Johnatan Cañaveral (Bardiani-CSF-Faizane), Alejandro Osorio (Caja Rural Seguros), Guy Niv (Israel Start-Up Nation), Antonio Nibali (Trek-Segafredo), Eduardo Sepulveda (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec), and Cristian Scaroni (Gazprom RusVelo).

With just under 100km to race, Ineos Grenadiers found Sebastian Henao off his bike due to a puncture and Carlos Rodriguez off due to a fall. Both riders were able to rejoin the peloton, as the pace on the second lap through the San Marion region had subsided.

Once the circuitous smaller loops, mountain classification leader Márton Dina (Eolo-Kometa) fought his way to the lead group for a time. Behind, Jumbo-Visma paced the peloton for Vingegaard, and saving energy for the ensuing climbs.

By the end of the third closing lap, the front group was reduced to eight riders – Zardini, Boaro, Nibali, Osorio, Sepulveda, Scaroni, Niv and Juaristi. Shortly thereafter, Osorio began to show wear and tear.

On the final lap, Spaniards Hector Carretero (Movistar) and Oier Lazkano (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) broke free at the front for a short time, only to be outdistanced by a surge of GC contenders, including Romo and Vingegaard.