Vuelta a España: Sam Bennett wins stage 4

Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep) picked up from where he left off at the Tour de France with a stage victory on the first bunch sprint of the Vuelta a Espana.

Jasper Philipsen (UAE Emirates) looked as though he might have stolen a march on all the other sprinters when he began his sprint early and gained a few bike-lengths on them all, but Bennett managed to pip him at the line.

Jakub Marecko (CCC) and Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) sprinted for third and fourth respectively, while all the GC favourites finished safely in the bunch and Primoz Roglic maintained his lead over Daniel Martin.

Bennett benefited from an exemplary lead-out from his Deceuninck-QuickStep team that formed a long lead out train with 3km to go and featured most of the team. 

“We said we needed to be together at one point,” explained Bennett at the finish, “and at that point the team was all there. They did the job perfectly, we came together when we needed to. And it was even more [riders] than we asked to be there, we only asked for a few guys, and the whole team was there to support me. I’d like to thank all the guys, they did a fantastic job.”

Their good work was nearly disrupted by Philipsen, however, who launched his sprint early and was caught by Bennett only meters from the finish line. 

“Jasper Philipsen came on the inside and got a jump, and I actually really didn’t believe I was going to catch him. I started getting more and more speed towards the end and I was still accelerating towards the line, so I had the power. But when he initially went, he was explosive around the corner that I didn’t know if I could catch him.”

How it unfolded

After three successive GC stages, the flat parcours of stage 4 at last gave the sprints their first time in the spotlight.

Two more riders did not take to the start line at the start of the day: Simon Geschke (CCC), and Daniel Martinez (EF Pro Cycling), who was evidently still suffering following a crash on the opening stage.

It didn’t take long for the day’s break to form, as Harry Tanfield (AG2R La Mondiale), Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis), Jesus Ezquerra (Burgos-BH) and Willie Smit (Burgos BH) going clear together after just two kilometers.

Their lead over the peloton grew to four minutes, before settling down to closer to three minutes. 

As it has the past two days, the wind again had an impact early in the stage. Once the peloton turned onto an exposed, windy road at around 100km to the finish, the pace increased to speeds of up to 80km/h, as different teams jostled for position at the front of the bunch to stay safe.

There was a great deal of nervousness for a short while in the peloton, but none of the favourites were caught out, and things soon calmed down again.

The slow-down came at just the right time for the break, who were in danger of being caught after seeing their advantage reduced to under half a minute. With 68km left to ride, it had grown back up to 1-30, and remained more or less at that distance before gradually coming down again. 

Tanfield was first over the intermediate sprint at the 25km to go, by which point the break’s lead was down to just thirty seconds. The catch was imminent, but there was still time for Smit to attack, presumably in an attempt to ensure he was awarded the day’s combativity award (to no avail, however, as Ezquerra was awarded it instead by public vote). 

With 15km to go he was swallowed up by the bunch, which was now led by Movistar, who continued to be alert to the threat potentially posed by the wind on the exposed roads of the plains.

As the finish approached, and the other GC teams moved at the front to protect their leaders, the pace picked up again to over 60km/h. 

Bora-Hansgrohe was the first of the sprinters’ teams to assert themselves, leading the peloton round a series of roundabouts in the final 5km.

Several other teams formed their own trains on the wide roads that led to the finish in Ejea de los Caballeros, and eventually it was Deceuninck-QuickStep who took control under the 3km-to-go banner, beginning the lead-out that saw Bennett take victory.