Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike) won stage 4 of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali stage race in Italy, attacking alone on the final climb to gain enough time to snatch the overall race lead.
The British rider got away with the USA's Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) and Mark Donovan (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) on the steep Valico Rio Chiè climb but finished alone to set up overall success on Friday's stage.
"Gutted for Magnus Sheffield who crashed in the closing kilometres of stage four. The Grenadier had been well placed over the day's final categorised climb. Happily he was able to re-mount and finish the stage," the Ineos team reported on X after the finish.
How it unfolded
The 150.4km fourth stage looped around the town of Brisighella, covering the 2.6km Monticino climb three times before a switch to a different circuit that included the climbs of Monticino and the Valico Rio Chiè, before a rising finish in Brisighella.
Paul Double (Team Jayco AlUla) was the first to attack, keen to make amends for losing time and any GC ambitions on stage 3. Other attacks came and soon a 13-rider group eventually formed and opened a two-minute gap.
In the move were Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal-QuickStep), Paul Double (Jayco AlUla), Ugo Fabries (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Walter Calzoni (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Davide Baldaccini (Team Solution Tech-Vini Fantini), Germán Darío Gómez (Team Polti VisitMalta), Martin Marcellusi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), Kamiel Eeman (Lotto), Adrien Maire (Unibet Tietema Rockets), Marc Cabedo (JCL Team UKYO), Luca Cretti (MBH Bank Ballan CSB) and Federico Guzzo (S.C. Padovani Polo Cherry Bank).
The Visma-Lease a Bike squad led the chase after the second climb of Monticino, and the gap was down to just 45 seconds after 100km of racing. Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal-QuickStep) and Alberto Bettiol (XDS Astana Team) jumped across to the attack and soon after Rafal Majka (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Jarno Widar (Lotto Development) joined them.
Majka, Widar and Vansevenant immediately went on the attack and opened a 25-second gap in the rolling hills near Brisighella. However the race came back together on the last assault of the steep Valico Rio Chiè climb.
Tulett led over the climb but Sheffield and Donovan were initially with him, Sheffield trying to defend his overall race lead.
A lack of live television footage made it difficult to understand exactly what happened on the descent, but Tulett emerged in the final kilometres to Brisighella and had time to celebrate his first win since the 2023 Tour of Norway. After a series of set-backs, the British climber is back to his best.
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