Tirreno-Adriatico stage 4 - As it happened live

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the fourth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico.

Five minutes to go until the riders head off for the neutral start in Greccio.

A 5.9km neutral start today.

A look at the map of today's stage.

2,100 metres of climbing on the menu today and after a time trial and two sprint stages we have some actual climbing in the finale!

Today the riders will take on three laps around Tortoreto including three ascents of a 3.2km, 6.9% climb, plus an earlier 4.6km, 4.2% ascent from the other direction before entering the circuit.

The uphill finish today will be a lot different to what we've seen so far.

Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) is in the leader's blue jersey once again today. Will he keep it over the hills? His GC lead is currently 28 seconds over Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe).

A look at the stage 3 results and GC picture heading into today's stage.

Here's our stage 3 race report.

Jasper Philipsen took the sprint win after a dull day of racing thanks to a great lead out by Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Mathieu van der Poel.

Racing is underway at the start of stage 4!

Who will be in the breakaway today? Yesterday saw Davide Bais take the green KOM jersey for Eolo-Kometa, spending the day in the break with his brother Mattia.

209km to go

Five riders are up the road from the start.

Davide Bais (Eolo-Kometa) is in the move again!

He's joined by Filippo Magli (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), Mads Würtz Schmidt (Israel-PremierTech), Valerio Conti (Team Corratec) and Lucas Eriksson (Tudor).

The quintet have been let go by the peloton and their advantage is already over two minutes.

202km to go

Four minutes for the breakaway now. They're over the early unclassified hill at Castelfranco.

Now for the long uphill drag to Amatrice.

196km to go

4:15 for the breakaway.

Eriksson is in the virtual GC lead by over two minutes currently.

There likely isn't going to a whole lot going on until the riders reach the closing circuits in Tortoreto so let's take a look at some recent news from the race...

Tirreno-Adriatico echelon attack inspires Wout van Aert

Belgian back in the action and promising more on stage 4 to Tortoreto

180km to go

6:30 for the breakaway now.

Ben O’Connor on front foot in crosswinds at Tirreno-Adriatico

'It would have been sweet if I gained some time but that’s how it goes' says Australian after late split reeled in before line

The riders are heading uphill on the long mid-stage drag now. Six minutes is the gap.

Ganna survives Tirreno-Adriatico echelons but fears climb in Apennine mountains

'The climb will be harder than riding a pursuit match' Italian warns before first hilltop finish

165km to go

No KOM points on offer until the finishing circuit today. Around four minutes between break and peloton now.

McNulty, Almeida give UAE Team Emirates well-placed duo at Tirreno-Adriatico

'We’re in a good position and with different options,' says young US rider

The five breakaway riders are edging closer to the top of this very long uphill run to Amatrice.

We also have live coverage running from stage 5 of Paris-Nice today.

150km to go

The riders have now reached the highest point of the stage in Amatrice and will now be heading on a long downhill run towards the finishing circuits.

A shot of the peloton during today's stage.

3:30 from the peloton up to the breakaway five.

125km to go

The gap between peloton and break keeps coming down as they head down the descent. Three minutes now.

Another thrilling day out at Tirreno-Adriatico so far...

The time gap is stable at three minutes currently.

111km to go

The riders continue on the descent. Three minutes gap.

Live TV coverage starts soon. Find out how to watch Tirreno-Adriatico.

100km to go

Not too much longer until we hit the climbing on the finishing circuit.

Surely something will happen there. We've been waiting four days for it.

A look at the breakaway.

44.4kph average so far.

2:30 between break and peloton.

Bad news from Spain, where Caja Rural-Seguros RGA rider Sergio Martín has been hospitalised after he was hit by a driver while out training.

He has suffered multiple rib and vertebrae fractures and will undergo surgery.

TotalEnergies rider Mathieu Burgaudeau almost comes a cropper after slipping on the pedals, while the numerous riders in the peloton are wrong-footed by a traffic-calming lane divider in the middle of a town. Everyone continues just fine, though.

87km to go

Jumbo-Visma, Jayco-AlUla, Ineos Grenadiers at the head of the peloton. 1:40 to the break now.

Alessandro De Marchi (Jayco-AlUla) has put in an attack from the peloton.

The Australian team was formerly known as BikeExchange before Saudi resort AlUla stepped up to take on title sponsorship duties until 2025 during the past off-season.

Another quality state sports-washing effort to sit alongside UAE, Bahrain and Kazakhstan in the pro peloton.

Anyway, De Marchi's attack didn't stick but the peloton has sped up as a result. A minute up to the break now.

A shot of the peloton during today's stage. Very wintry.

Ineos, Jumbo, EF, Bahrain up front.

74km to go

1:30 to the break.

13km until the riders hit the finishing circuit.

63km to go

Still not much going on at Tirreno-Adriatico! That could be the tagline for the entire race so far.

35 seconds to the breakaway.

There's so much going on at the moment that the TV coverage has consisted of several minutes of Fernando Gaviria delivering bottles to his teammates. 

It's almost over for the break now. What a waste of time for green jersey Bais this has been...

60km to go

The breakaway is caught before any of the day's classified climbs.

Now the pace goes up as the riders head towards the hills.

Now the riders start the climb on the way to the circuit in Tortoreto.

Ineos Grenadiers lead the way over the top of the climb and now down the descent to the circuit.

A shot of the peloton during stage 4.

53km to go

The riders get their first sight of the Adriatic on the way down in Tortoreto.

Uphill again now as the peloton hits a section of the closing climb towards the KOM point/stage finish.

Michał Kwiatkowski leads the peloton through the finish line for the first time.

47km to go

Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost) pushes away off the front on the descent.

Honoré passes through the intermediate sprint alone 13 seconds up on the peloton.

Samuele Zoccarato (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) is also on the move, trying to chase down the Dane.

41km to go

Zoccarato is back with the peloton now. Honoré still out front.

The peloton races along the coastal road by the Adriatic.

No big rush in the peloton to catch Honoré. He's 25 seconds up the road now.

37km to go

Soudal-QuickStep take to the front of the peloton.

And Honoré is caught.

Riders drop out the rear of the peloton as the climb begins again.

Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) attacks!

35km to go

Response from Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates).

The pair get across to Alaphilippe and bring what remains of the peloton with them.

Around 20-25 riders there as Alaphilippe leads the way across the finish line once again.

Once more over the top and then that'll be it before a final visit for the stage finish.

31km to go

Alaphilippe and Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo) at the front on the way down the descent.

Riders get back on the rear of the peloton as they head downhill.

29km to go

Jumbo-Visma take it up at the front once again.

Jumbo-Visma now massed on the front of the peloton on the flat roads through the town.

22km to go

The peloton has swelled back up on the flat as dropped riders get back on. Mathieu van der Poel is among them.

AG2R, Jumbo, Groupama on the front.

The 3.2km, 7% climb is coming up once more.

Groupama and Trek push the pace on the climb. The dropped riders fall out the back of the peloton again.

Blue jersey Ganna is right up there.

19km to go

A big pull for Quentin Pacher at the front for Groupama-FDJ.

Tom Pidcock is surprisingly dropped.

Magnus Sheffield is also dropped.

Ganna is still up there and now Quinn Simmons takes over at the front.

Still around 30 in the front group. All the GC favourites are in there.

Simmons led Ciccone and Hindley over the top. Another descent, another stint on the flat, and then it's the climb to the finish.

14km to go

Movistar, Jumbo, Trek at the front on the way down.

Alaphilippe during his attack earlier on.

12km to go

Jumbo-Visma take to the front in a line riding for Van Aert and Roglič.

10km to go

No action on the flat here as Jumbo-Visma control it.

They have six men up front.

8km to go

Only a few kilometres until the riders hit the climb for the final time.

Cofidis and TotalEnergies have moved up front now.

6km to go

Jumbo and Alpecin also up there.

Crash in the peloton!

Pidcock touches wheels with Van Aert as he drops back from near the front of the peloton. The pair both hit the deck.

4km to go

Both are back on their feet and Van Aert walks back to Pidcock to help him up and make sure he's OK.

The pair roll along as Alpecin-Deceuninck lead the peloton onto the final climb.

3km to go

Van Aert and Pidcock chat as they ride alongside each other, their shorts torn in the fall.

Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck) makes a move. Valter goes with him.

Vlasov goes too, but the peloton is back with them.

2km to go

Race leader Filippo Ganna is dropped.

Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) makes a move now.

The Frenchman has multiple riders on his wheel.

Now Valter takes it up at the front of the peloton.

We cut back to Van Aert, who gives a thumbs up to the camera.

Lorenzo Fortunato (Eolo-Kometa) goes now.

1.5km to go

Girmay is off the back. Van der Poel was already dropped.

Valter leads the chase.

Damien Howson (Q36.5) is with Fortunato.

The pair are just a few seconds up on the peloton.

1km to go

Now Howson goes again and puts some distance into Fortunato.

The pair are brought back.

Hugh Carthy tries a move but can't get anywhere.

500m to go

Now Roglič moves up front.

Roglič pushes on.

Lafay and Yates are up there too.

Lafay leads into the closing metres.

Now Roglič and Yates come through again.

Roglič takes it around the outside of the final bend and he wins the stage!

Alaphilippe snuck through to second place behind the Slovenian.

Adam Yates took third.

First win of 2023 for Roglič on his fourth race day of the season.

Wilco Kelderman, Tao Geoghegan Hart, and Enric Mas came home in fourth, fifth, and sixth.

Roglič celebrates his stage 4 victory.

Ganna will be out of the race lead tonight. One from Lennard Kämna, Brandon McNulty, Thymen Arensman or João Almeida should take over, depending on time gaps at the line.

Here's what Roglič said after the finish...

"Our plan was to go for a result today, definitely, but I wasn't the first plan. Normally we'd go with Wout but he was unlucky. I just had luck that I was bit more on the left side and avoid the crash. We quickly changed the plan and I went for it at the end.

"It's always nice to win. It's fantastic to see how I recovered. We worked hard, made a lot of sacrifices, all the people in my family and all the people around. It's just nice to be back and enjoying it."

Roglič celebrates the win.

Bora-Hansgrohe's Lennard Kämna is the new race leader.

He's six seconds up on Roglič and eight on Almeida.

Take a look back at the final kilometre of stage 4 here.

Here's our stage 4 report.

Tirreno-Adriatico: Primoz Roglic wins stage 4 as Van Aert crashes

Roglič leading the way to the line ahead of Alaphilippe and Yates.

25km to go over in Paris-Nice. Follow the action live here.

Roglič celebrates his stage win on the podium.

And Lennard Kämna celebrates taking over the race lead.

We'll have news and reaction coming in from the race through the afternoon and evening. Check back for more!