Tirreno-Adriatico: Pogacar powers away to win stage 4 in Bellante

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Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) claimed his fifth victory of the season with a crushing punch on the uphill finish on stage 4 of Tirreno-Adriatico.

The Tour de France champion, who won Strade Bianche with a 50km solo last weekend, took the blue leader’s jersey from Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and underlined his status as the red-hot favourite for the overall title.

It was another all-action display from Pogačar, who embarked on another long-range attack with Ganna and fellow favourite Remo Evenepoel (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) on the first of three ascents of the key climb on the finishing circuit in Bellante.

That roll of the dice came to nothing and the bunch reformed for the final ascent, where the Slovenian was prominent in marking every move. An acceleration from Victor Lafay (Cofidis) was selected as his launchpad and when he kicked clear with 500 metres to go it was emphatic.

Pogačar crossed the line two seconds clear of the rest, with Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) producing a late scramble to take second ahead of Lafay, while Evenepoel trailed in fourth. There was a further three-second gap back to the rest of the group.

There was a further three-second gap back to the next group of nine riders, with smaller groups finishing shortly afterwards.

“After a hard effort from the team, we pulled all day and I was thinking if I don't give it a go, it will be a bad day for us,” Pogačar said. “So we did everything right and in the end, it was a good day for the victory.”

Ganna, who’d contributed to the earlier attack earlier with Pogačar and Evenepoel, finished 25 seconds down and slipped out of the leader’s jersey but only slipped to third overall. Ineos’ hierarchy did, however, become clearer as Richard Carapaz was dropped on the final climb and lost nearly three minutes, while Richie Porte produced a trio of accelerations and Tao Geoghegan Hart ended up placing fifth, just behind Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo).

Enric Mas (Movistar), Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe), and the Bahrain Victorious duo of Mikel Landa and Pello Bilbao were all part of the group finishing five seconds down on Pogačar, while Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana), who also attacked, lost a further seven seconds along with Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-EasyPost), Thymen Arensman (DSM), and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ).

In the overall standings, Pogačar leads Evenepoel by nine seconds, with Ganna third at 21 seconds. Arensman is fourth at 36 seconds, Geoghegan Hart fifth at 43 seconds, and Vingegaard sixth at 45 seconds. Lopez sits seventh at 50 seconds while Pogačar’s own teammate Marc SOler is the only other rider within a minute, as Porte and Kelderman round out the top 10.

How it unfolded

The 202-kilometre stage took the riders up early climbs in the Appenines and then down a 50km descent, but it would all come down to the finishing circuit around Bellante and, most importantly, the three ascents of the 4km climb, which averaged over six per cent.

With the road tilting uphill from kilometre-four, it was a fast and chaotic start, with 20km passing before the day’s breakaway formed. When it did go, it contained 10 riders: Lilian Calmejane (AG2R Citroën Team), Jasha Sutterlin (Bahrain-Victorious), Jhonatan Restrepo (Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli), Jonathan Caicedo (EF Education-EasyPost), Diego Rosa (Eolo-Kometa), Einer Rubio (Movistar), Warren Barguil (Arkéa Samsic), Tsgabu Grmay (BikeExchange–Jayco), Chris Hamilton (Team DSM), Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo).

By the top of the climb, where Simmons took the points, they had taken their lead to over five minutes, as Ineos took a back seat and UAE Team Emirates were forced into early action. The race did settled down later on but the hectic start proved too much for stage 3 winner Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), who abandoned and chose to rest up ahead of MIlan-San Remo.

On the long gradual descent, the breakaway worked together but were pegged by the bunch at around the five-minute mark as UAE Team Emirates took command. However, they had an extra gear, and around the half-way mark the peloton noticeably upped the tempo. By the intermediate sprint in Ascoli Piceno with 75km to go, where Simmons took the points, the gap was down to four minutes. By the top of a short uncategorised climb that signalled the entry to the finishing circuit with 60km to go, it was down to three minutes.

The first ascent of Bellante began with 45km to go and, after a big surge in the peloton on the run-in, the breakaway hit it with a lead of 2:30 and started to split up as soon as the road tilted uphill. Sutterlin was first to be dropped, shortly followed by Rubio and Calmejane, although the latter did give chase with Grmay. 3km from the top, Simmons attacked and went solo, crossing the line 15 seconds up.

In the peloton, QuickStep took the reins, with Josef Cerny and Kasper Asgreen setting pace on the early kilometres before Julian Alaphilippe accelerated on the upper reaches. That was cue for Evenepoel to attack over the top, and he succeeded in drawing out Pogačar and Ganna. Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) also made the boat and they soon picked up Calmejane and Grmay.

Despite all of them turning and contributing, they never got more than 20 seconds over what was a sizeable peloton and slotted back in on the gradual descent back round to the foot of the climb.

By that point, Simmons was the last man standing from the break and hit the climb alone out front with a minute in hand. The second ascent was much calmer, with Jumbo-Visma setting a steady tempo and leading the large bunch over the top 38 seconds down on Simmons.

However, the race sparked back into life over the top once again. Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) kicked off a flurry of attacks, with numerous pre-race favourites, including Pogačar, slipping clear in a large and dangerous move. Alaphilippe and Vingegaard had to sprint to get across to it but it eventually came together again on that gradual descent and a large peloton came back round for the third and final ascent of Bellante.

Trek-Segafredo - remarkably driven by Simmons - dominated the run-in, while Jumbo’s Koen Bouwman once again hit the front for the climb, but Romain Bardet (Team DSM) wanted a selective climb and attacked early, sparking a non-stop sequence of attacks and lulls. When Lopez attacked, Pogačar responded and from then on he was never further down that fourth place. Kelderman accelerated before Evenepoel launched a testing attack with 2.5km to go, and then Lopez went again. After a brief respite, Ineos lit it up with Jhonatan Narvaez putting in a softener ahead of a sustained push from Porte. The Australian accelerated with three distinct kicks but only succeeded in stretching out the reduced group, with around 30 left under the 1km-to-go banner.

The next attack came from Lafay and it was a big one, with daylight starting to open. Pogačar was straight on it, and he used to opportunity to make his winning move. As soon as he opened the taps, he was away, and it was clear he was heading for victory. Lafay held on impressively but was rounded by Vingegaard in sight of the line, while Evenepoel started from further back and missed out on the bonus seconds, losing 12 seconds to Pogačar on the day.

The gaps are tight and the race has indeed developed into a Pogačar vs Evenepoel battle, but, as Evenepoel has said, it’s going to take something extraordinary to topple Pogačar on this form.