Vuelta a Burgos: Barbero wins stage 4

Carlos Barbero (Movistar) claimed victory on stage 4 of the Vuelta a Burgos after he delivered a perfectly-timed sprint on the uphill finale in Clunia. The Spaniard held off the Nippo-Vini Fantini pairing of Marco Tizza and Nicola Bagioli to take the honours.

Barbero entered the finale above Clunia’s striking Roman amphitheatre armed with an advanced understanding of the intricacies of the closing metres. The Burgos native won on this very finish in 2015 and again last year, and he used that knowledge to good effect.

Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Sky) led out the uphill sprint after his Sky teammate Kenny Elissonde had set a rasping pace for much of the final kilometre, but the Briton’s acceleration was a touch premature.

Barbero, by contrast, bided his time until the road was on the cusp of levelling out, and then unleashed a rasping sprint that took him clear of the field. Tizza and Bagioli battled to get on terms, but the Movistar man was not to be denied. Geoghegan Hart held on to place fourth ahead of Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data).

Overall leader Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) was well-placed throughout the finale, and he came home in seventh place to maintain the purple jersey ahead of Saturday’s concluding stage to Lagunas de Neila. The Colombian has a lead of 23 seconds over his fellow countryman Ivan Sosa (Androni-Sidermec), while Kudus lies third at 27 seconds.

The Team Sky pairing of David de la Cruz and Geoghegan Hart are 34 and 42 seconds down, respectively.

Friday’s 165km stage from Monasterios San Pedro Carde to Clunia was always liable to finish in a group sprint, but that did not dissuade an early band of escapees forging clear in the opening kilometres.

Diego Rubio (Burgos-BH), Txomin Juaristi (Fundacion Euskadi), Thibault Guernalac (Fortuneo-Samsic), Julen Amezqueta (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Lucas De Rossi (Delko Marseille Provence) went up the road after 20 kilometres, with Amezqueta leading over the day’s sole categorised climb, the category 3 Alto del Majadal.

The quintet were never handed much leeway, and they built up a maximum lead just shy of three minutes as Movistar and Team Sky controlled the peloton behind. With 15 kilometres to go, as their buffer dropped to less than a minute, the unity of the break was definitively shattered as Rubio went on the offensive.

The Burgos-BH rider’s effort triggered a volley of attacks and counter-attacks, with De Rossi also very aggressive. All the while, the peloton was drawing closer, and the leaders were eventually caught with a little over five kilometres remaining.

By that point, the Polartec-Kometa team of stage 2 winner Matteo Moschetti were setting a fierce tempo at the front of the bunch, but their place was taken by Team Sky as the race swung left onto the final approach to the stirring finish at Clunia.

A crash split the peloton inside the final two kilometres, with Maxime Daniel (Fortuneo-Samsic) and Marco Frapporti (Androni-Sidermec) among the fallers, though the general classification contenders emerged unscathed.

Team Sky continued their forcing as the road began to climb, with Elissonde providing an impressive cameo before Geoghegan Hart accelerated with purpose within sight of the line. Barbero, however, knows this finale better than anyone, and that experience proved crucial as he picked up his third victory of the season.

The Vuelta a Burgos concludes on Saturday with its traditional mountaintop finish at Lagunas de Neila. Lopez triumphed at the summit a year ago as Mikel Landa claimed overall victory. This time around, Lopez is poised to cement his hold on the purple jersey and underline his credentials for the forthcoming Vuelta a España.

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