Vuelta a Espana: Trentin wins stage 4

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Matteo Trentin (Quick-Step Floors) won stage 4 of the Vuelta a España with a cool sprint in a messy finale in Tarragona, joining the club of riders with stage wins in all three Grand Tours.

The 28-year-old Italian, who won stages of the Tour de France in 2013 and 2014 and a stage at last year's Giro d'Italia, emphatically outpaced LottoNL-Jumbo's Juan José Lobato, who had seemed to get the jump through a late sweeping right-hand bend – one of many technical aspects to the final couple of kilometres.

Canndonale-Drapac's Tom van Asbroeck finished third, in what was the first bunch sprint of this Vuelta and, in all probability, one of only three opportunities for the fast men.

Quick-Step, as they did at this year's Giro and Tour, have enjoyed a dream start to this Vuelta, with Yves Lampaert winning stage 2, and it was the Belgian team that dominated the final couple of kilometres as others hesitated. And while Trentin had waited in the wings as Lampaert launched his final-kilometre attack two days ago, this time it was Lampaert who buried himself to lead Trentin into the final few hundred metres.

As the Belgian pulled over, however, through the sweeping right-hander, the lead was suddenly lost to Lobato, who had taken a more aggressive inside line. The Spaniard, however, despite being in a perfect position, didn't have the power to carry it to the line. Trentin coolly spent a couple of seconds in the slipstream before moving out to the left and then comfortably clear, sitting up to celebrate in the closing metres, while Lobato bashed his bars in frustration.

"I was really looking for a victory because I'm really going good in this last part of the season. After my crash that took me out of the Tour de France I was just thinking about coming here and winning stages," said Trentin in his post-race interview.

"Two days ago we did a perfect, smart job with Yves Lampaert, and it took the win and the jersey. Today we decided to have my time. The guys were amazing. We got some help from Aqua Blue, UAE and Lotto at the beginning, but then when things went a little bit 'bananas', as it always does in cycling, they just stayed in the situation and we got everyone pulling – Tim Declerq pulled the whole day yesterday, he pulled the whole day today. Then basically everybody pulled. Together with Lampy and [Julian] Alaphilippe we really built up a nice lead-out to the finish.”

Chris Froome finished safely in the peloton to retain the leader's jersey he acquired on Monday, though the same cannot be said for Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale). The Italian, part of a two-pronged GC unit with Romain Bardet, was caught up in a crash – alongside Dani Moreno (Movistar) and Jelle Wallays (Lotto Soudal) – that, cruelly, occurred mere metres shy of the three-kilometers-to-go banner, the point at which GC times are neutralized in the event of a crash. The Italian rolled over the line 3:25 down, his GC hopes of repeating his top-10 overall finish at this year's Giro taking a huge battering.

Rafal Majka, whose GC ambitions seemed to go out of the window yesterday, lost a further 3:45 as he was caught out in the final few kilometres, which, strangely, saw his own Bora-Hansgrohe team piling on the pace at the front of the peloton.

"I think everyone was afraid of some time splits," said Froome. "It was worth staying up there and spending a bit of energy just to be up front in case of splits today. Obviously my teammates did a massive job in helping me be up there."

How it unfolded

In contrast to Sunday's stage 2, where the constant threat of crosswinds meant no breakaway was seen all day, Tuesday's stage – the second of only four flat sprint stages at this Vuelta – quickly settled into a more familiar pattern.

Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis), Juan Felipe Osorio (Manzana Postobon) and the Caja Rural duo of Diego Rubio and Nicholas Schulz broke away from the peloton in the early kilometres and quickly built up a sizable lead. FDJ's Johan Le Bon was late to the party but after a lone chase of more than 10 kilometres, the Frenchman was up at the front of the race to make it a group of five.

They opened up a lead of more than five minutes in the space of 50 kilometres, as Sky took on the responsibility that comes with the leader's jersey and policed the gap in the opening portion of the race.

When the gap stretched to more than seven minutes, still well over 100 kilometres from the finish, the sprint teams made their way to the front of the peloton. Quick-Step Floors made no secret of their intentions, while Aqua Blue, UAE and Lotto Soudal all pitched in as well.

The gap came down slowly but surely, and the big changes would come courtesy of the third-category Alto de Belltall with around 75km remaining. Rossetto was clearly unhappy with the way things were panning out, and issued a sharp acceleration on the climb, dropping all his companions save for Rubio.

The duo were able to maintain a decent advantage on the gentle downhill section that followed, leading to the intermediate sprint point in Valls, where Rubio took maximum points. The sprint also offered up time bonuses of three, two and one seconds, and, as on Monday, Sky raced for them. Froome had gained two seconds on stage 3, enough to leave him in the overall lead of the race at the end of the day, and on stage 4 he prevented any rivals from nabbing the last remaining second by sending two teammates off the front. No one else seemed remotely interested.

But perhaps the front of the bunch was the best place for Sky and Froome to be, as a narrow road saw Sunweb's Wilco Kelderman, who lost time yesterday, hit the deck, along with teammate Lennard Hofstede. The pair got back up but faced a battle to get back onto the back of a peloton that was by now moving up through the gears.

Meanwhile, the breakaway duo were doing a stellar job of keeping the bunch at bay, taking a minute into the final 15 kilometres. A few kilometres later, though, Rubio attacked his companion, though Rossetto would soon make his way back up. Finally, the catch was made with eight kilometres to go, with Rossetto grinding it out to be the last to be caught and thus earn the combativity prize.

Quick-Step, by this point, were in full flow, and an attempt from Manzano Postobon to throw the cat among the pigeons with a late attack was short-lived. Bora-Hansgrohe took it up in the final five kilometres, and just as AG2R La Mondiale came to the fore, Pozzovivo was caught up in the crash, with Wallays also hitting the deck hard in the pileup and taking his time to remount.

There was disorganisation in a technical final couple of kilometres, but soon Quick-Step reappeared, with Julian Alaphilippe leading the way, Lampaert and Trentin tucked in behind. Lampaert continued his work, despite a Lotto Soudal rider jumping on his wheel, all the way to 300 metres to go and the right-hand bend.

Trentin would have liked to have taken a neater line through it, but there was enough ground remaining for his superior speed to shine through.

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