Vuelta a Espana: Ben King wins stage 4

Ben King (Dimension Data) combined calm and strength on the final approach to the summit of Puerto de Alfacar to claim victory on stage 4 of the Vuelta a España ahead of Nikita Stalnov (Astana Pro Team), while Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) did enough to retain his red jersey in the face of attacks from Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) and Emmanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe).

The Vuelta's first category 1 summit finish provided two races for the price of one as King and the day's early breakaway battled for stage honours up ahead, while the men with designs on final overall victory took each other's measure on the 12km haul to the finish.

That said, for long stretches of the afternoon, King looked on course to help himself to a stint in the red jersey, as the break's advantage yawned out towards the ten-minute mark and he remained the virtual race leader until the upper reaches of the Puerto de Alfacar.

By that point, King was at the front of the race with Stalnov, after the pair forged clear of the nine-man break just ahead of the final climb to the line. They were initially joined by Jelle Wallays (Lotto Soudal), but the Belgian was quickly dropped once the gradient stiffened.

King was at times visibly frustrated by Stalnov's reluctance to help with the pace-setting as the leading duo were stalked all the way up the mountain by Pierre Rolland (EF-Drapac). For much of the climb, the Frenchman's deficit flitted between 15 and 30 seconds, but he made a mammoth effort to draw within metres of his prey beneath the flamme rouge.

Despite Rolland's fightback, King bided his time until the final 400 metres and then unleashed a fearsome acceleration to rip clear of Stalnov and claim the stage honours. The Kazakhstani rider came home in second place, while an exhausted Rolland crossed the line 13 seconds back in third.

"It's a dream come true. I really can't believe it. I didn't start believing in it until the last kilometre, and I'm really happy for the way it worked out. I'm happy for the confidence the team put in me, giving me the opportunity even though we're riding here in support of Louis [Meintjes]," King said. "I set winning a Grand Tour stage as a goal for myself at the beginning of this year. It's something I've had to keep believing in and have faith that I have that potential. This is really affirming."

King began the day with a deficit of 4:33 on Kwiatkowski, and the breakaway's 8-minute buffer at the base of the climb gave him a fighting chance of divesting the Pole of the red jersey, particularly as Sky seemed reluctant to take up the reins on the lower slopes.

A determined bout of pace-making from LottoNL-Jumbo rather altered the dynamic of the stage, however, with Tour of Utah winner Sepp Kuss impressively whittling down the red jersey group with his tempo.

"My mind was just blank, I was just in the hurt locker," said Kuss, whose stinging pace proved too much for Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) and Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), and ultimately left Kwiatkowski relatively isolated from his Sky team.

A little under 4 kilometres from the summit, Simon Yates outlined his intentions for this Vuelta with a sharp acceleration. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) briefly considered following but then swung over, and the Briton quickly stretched out his advantage. The only rider who got back on terms was Buchmann, who sensed the general fatigue in the red jersey group and tacked on an attack of his own.

"I could see everybody next to me was on the limit," Buchmann said. "The heat was today a factor and Lotto went very fast."
Yates crossed the line in 8th place on the stage, 2:48 down on King, while Buchmann came home just behind him.

Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) accelerated in the final kilometre to finish 10th at 3:07, while Kwiatkowski and a reduced red jersey group that included Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo), Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) and Fabio Aru (UAE-Team Emirates) finished 3:15 down.

The margins have grown tighter atop the overall standings as a consequence. Kwiatkowski leads Buchmann by 7 seconds, while Yates is now 3rd at 10 seconds. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) lies 4th at 12 seconds, with Kelderman 5th at 25 seconds.

How it unfolded

Although Sunday's trek to Caminito del Rey finished just beyond the top of a category 3 climb, stage 4 was classed as the Vuelta's maiden summit finish. With the demanding finale above Granada in mind – not to mention the soaring temperatures – there was no great resistance to the day's opening attack.

King, Stalnov and Rolland were joined by Luis Angel Maté (Cofidis), Jelle Wallays (Lotto Soudal), Lars Boom (LottoNL-Jumbo), Oscar Cabedo Carda (Burgos BH), Aritz Bagues (Euskadi Basque Country-Murias) and Ben Gastauer (AG2R La Mondiale) in forging clear in the opening kilometres, and the peloton was more than content to leave them to it.

Team Sky patrolled the front of the race on behalf of Kwiatkowski's red jersey, and set a steady tempo as Rolland, Maté and company gladly extended their advantage in sizeable increments and reached seven minutes by the time they crested the top of the day's first ascent, the category 1 Alto de la Cabra Montés.

Maté, the so-called Lynx of Andalucia, is always eager to impress on home roads. Already wearing the king of the mountains after his aggressive outing on stage 2, the Cofidis man buttressed his lead by claiming maximum points atop the Cabra Montés.

On the rugged terrain that followed, the margin between the break and the main field continued to grow, and it touched 10 minutes with 35km remaining. Movistar briefly opted to join Team Sky in the pace-making effort at the head of the peloton, but there was precious little urgency and the break began the final climb with a healthy buffer.

Wallays kick-started the attacking among the escapees on the approach to the final climb, and he helped to spark what proved to be the winning move. As the Belgian faded on the lower slopes, King – with Stalnov in tow – pressed on.

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