Ruta del Sol: Simon Yates wins stage 4

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Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) has hit the ground running in his first race of the 2019 season, winning stage the toughest mountain stage of the 2019 Vuelta a Andalucia, as the aggressive racing in the Sierra Nevada mountains cracked Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) took the race lead.

The 2018 Vuelta a España winner stormed out of a rapidly fragmenting lead group roughly five kilometres from the summit of the brutally difficult Hazallanas climb, crossing the top of the last ascent of the stage with 44 seconds advantage.

Yates then managed to keep the chasing group, led by an Astana trio of Fuglsang, Ion Izagirre and Pello Bilbao and also containing his brother Adam, at a distance on the long, fast descent back into Granada and the finish.

Former race leader Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) had a tough day, crashing early on, getting dropped at the foot of the Hazallanas climb, then having to change his bike on the descent. He dropped to ninth overall.

Now in the lead with a seven second advantage over his team-mate Izagirre, Fuglsang paid his respects to Mitchelton-Scott and Simon Yates in particular saying “he was super-strong and deserved the stage, but the main goal of the day was to take the jersey.”

However, it was Astana who initially made much of the running on the first of two difficult ascents of the day, the Purche, whittling down the main group. By the time the race went through the finish at Granada for the first time prior to tackling the Hazallanas, only Sergio Samitier (Euskadi-Murias) remained ahead.

Another important sort-out though came on the long, grinding ascent to Guejar Sierra, with Samitier reeled in and Wellens becoming isolated from his teammates thanks to the combined efforts of Astana and Mitchelton-Scott.

When Simon Yates and Pello Bilbao (Astana) launched one probing attack from a dozen strong lead group full of Mitchelton-Scott and Astana jerseys and Wellens had to respond in person, with more than 30 kilometres and one major climb left to go, the writing was on the wall for the Belgian.

On the ultra-steep slopes of the six-kilometre Hazallanas climb, Simon Yates opened up the throttle again, Wellens fell back, and with a second blast up the climb, Yates managed to open up a gap on a group now led by Fuglsang in person as Izagirre also began to suffer.

The Dane’s steady chasing could not bring back Simon Yates but it dislodged Jack Haig, Mitchelton-Scott’s best placed GC rider and by the time Izagirre regained contact close to the top, Fuglsang was clearly en route for the leader’s jersey.

On the long, very fast descent of more than 20 kilometres back to Granada, with riders reaching speeds of over 100km/h, Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) advantage of 44 seconds briefly increased. But the arrival of Bilbao in the chase group added considerable firepower to the Astana-led pursuit and at three kilometres to go, with the gap now down to 35 seconds and Yates visible ahead on the long straightaways leading into Granada, it looked like the Briton might just be caught.

Instead, Yates stayed away, with highly promising young Colombian Sergio Higuita (Euskadi) taking second place in the small group sprint behind at 26 seconds, whilst Fuglsang claimed third and the overall lead. He now leads teammate Izagirre by seven seconds, with Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) at 11 seconds.

Barring major surprises Fuglsang is now poised for the overall victory.

Sunday’s final 164kilometre stage from Otura down to the traditional race finish for the Vuelta a Andalucia in Alhaurin de la Torre, close to the region’s southern coastline, has some tough hilly segments early on. But with a flat final 20 kilometres, the odds of a bunch sprint finish or breakaway on Sunday are high, and so, too, are the chances of Fuglsang’s first stage race overall win since the Criterium du Dauphiné in 2017.

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