Vuelta a Espana stage 4 Live - The race hits the Basque hills

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The peloton takes on the first Spanish stage of the race

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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the fourth stage of the 2022 Vuelta a España!

Today's stage is the first one in Spain after three in the Netherlands. You can read the reports on each of the opening stages below.

The start of stage 4 is just under 20 minutes away.

A look at the map of today's stage, which will see the riders race through the Basque Country.

Sam Bennett has won the first two road stages of the race but today won't be a day for the Irish sprinter. The stage brings the first second-category climb of the race as well as an uphill finish to test the puncheurs and GC men.

After the longest stage of the race on Sunday in Breda, today's race is one of the shortest road stages of the Vuelta. At 152.5km it's the shortest one this week.

Jumbo-Visma's Edoardo Affini is in the race lead today. The time triallist is unlikely to still be in red this evening, however. His teammates Sam Oomen, Primož Roglič and Sepp Kuss are prime candidates to take over.

Bennett is in green while Ineos' Ethan Hayter wears white.

180 riders start today's stage as they roll through the neutral zone. Only Steff Cras (Lotto Soudal) and Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) failed to make it to Spain.

Today the Vuelta visits the Basque Country for the first time since the 2020 race. Back then, Roglič and Marc Soler took stage wins in Arrate and Lekunberri as Irún hosted the race start.

There are plenty of home representatives for Basque fans to cheer over the next few days. Euskaltel-Euskadi hail from the region, while Movistar and Equipo Kern Pharma are based in Navarre, which is part of the historic Basque region.

150km to go

Attacks are flying to start the stage. Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan) and Alessandro De Marchi (Israel-Premier Tech) are among the men on the move.

KOM leader Van den Berg is also on the attack along with Jetse Bol (Burgos-BH) and Xabier Azparren (Euskaltel-Euskadi).

The advantage for De Marchi and Lutsenko is only around 10 seconds at the moment.

143km to go

James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost), Jarrad Drizners (Lotto Soudal), Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH) and Joan Bou (Euskaltel-Euskadi) are among the latest wave of attackers.

40 seconds for Lutsenko and De Marchi currently.

137km to go

Two minutes for the breakaway now.

Bora-Hansgrohe, who have won two stages so far with Sam Bennett, control the peloton for the moment.

Lutsenko and De Marchi have both won stages at Vuelta before. 

130km to go

With the breakaway's lead, Lutsenko is now in the virtual red jersey. He lay just 46 seconds away from the race lead at the start of the day.

122km to go

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The gap for the break is up to three minutes now. No worries for the peloton so long from the finish.

105km to go

The break ride into the final 100km of the day and approach the second-category climb of the Puerto de Opakua (5km at 6.9%).

A 46.9kph average speed so far. It's been a quick one.

92km to go

Bou leads the way over the top after a battle among the breakaway. Five points for the Euskaltel rider and he's now in the lead of the mountain classification!

3:05 for the break now after that upping of the pace on the climb. Jumbo-Visma and Bora-Hansgrohe remain in control in the peloton.

The speed remains high as the riders zip along the rolling roads following the first hill of the stage.

77km to go

There are some splits in the peloton due to the hard pace put on at the moment as the riders tackle some small hills.

Jumbo-Visma putting on the pace.

Some riders, including Domenico Pozzovivo, get back into the peloton following the splits.

A minute between the peloton and a group of dropped riders which includes KOM jersey holder Julius van den Berg.

67km to go

The gap between the peloton and break is coming down again now. The men up front have just 1:05 on the chase. 

60km to go

QuickStep-AlphaVinyl have now sent a man up front to join in with Bora and Jumbo.

As the riders race over some hilly ground, the break has split in two.

52km to go

Just this trio left out front now after that split.

Rémi Cavagna is working on the front of the peloton with Bora and Jumbo at the moment.

44km to go

De Marchi leading the breakaway.

Down to 20 seconds now. Not long left for the break.

The riders are a couple of kilometres away from the intermediate sprint now. Bora will be hoping Bennett can pick up some points here if the catch is made before it.

37km to go

Now the pace has upped once again and the peloton are closing in on the breakaway trio.

35km to go

Shaw led the way over the sprint while Bennett sprinted against Pedersen just a couple of second behind.

It's all back together now after the breakaway trio were caught.

Sam Bennett puts his hand up with a problem. He gets a bike change and drops out the rear of the peloton. Teammate Ryan Mullen is with him.

Meanwhile Ineos Grenadiers are up front in the peloton now. Jumbo-Visma and Bahrain Victorious are also up there.

They're heading uphill now though it isn't a categorised climb.

Bennett took fifth place at the sprint, by the way. Pedersen beat him to fourth, grabbing an extra three points. Bennett is still secure in green by some distance, though.

30km to go

A third-category hill left to come at 14.5km to go.

With no break to catch and nobody chasing back on at the moment there's little drama on the run to the final climb of the day here.

24km to go

A very high pace as Jumbo, Ineos, FDJ lead the way at the front.

Rider fall out of the rear of the peloton as they hit the climb

Trek and Jumbo lead it.

More and more riders drop with the high pace at the front. Lutsenko and Gesink among them.

Red jersey Affini is also dropped. It's likely to be one of his teammates Kuss, Roglič, or Oomen in red tonight.

Juan Ayuso and Sergio Higuita at the rear of the peloton.

20km to go

Hayter is on the back of the peloton too.

Jumbo-Visma are in control of the peloton now as they hit the final few kilometres of the climb. All the GC names are just staying safe and in touch at the front.

16km to go

Julian Alaphilippe puts in an attack at the top!

Roglič joins him and several other riders also come across at the top.

There were three bonus seconds on offer at the top.

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Roglič took the three bonus seconds at the top there. Now a quick descent.

A crash on the way down for Vojtech Repa (Equipo Kern Pharma) who runs into the grass hillside. He has some cuts on his face and is getting checked over by the race doctor.

10km to go

Only around 25 men in the lead group now but more riders are coming back after splits on the top of the hill.

Now several riders are jumping at the front as the group hits the bottom of the descent.

Astana on the move here but it's not going to work.

A quick blast towards the final uphill finish.

6km to go

Ineos take to the front.

5km to go

Now the road starts to kick up and the riders hit the narrow roads in the town of Navaridas.

4km to go

Confirmation coming through that Roglič took three bonus seconds on that last classified climb. Alaphilippe took two and Jay Vine took one.

3km to go

Around 40 riders left in the group.

Movistar with three on the front as the riders approach the final kilometre.

1km to go

Roglič moves up to the front.

The gradient bites now.

Roglič to the front with 700m to go.

More riders jumping through but no big moves. Chaves, O'Connor, Valverde.

Hayter is up there, too. Carapaz as well.

Trek-Segafredo at the front now.

A lead-out for Pedersen.

Roglič against Pedersen to the line!

Roglič jumped up the inside and passed Pedersen on the final ramp.

He went long but Pedersen had no answer.

And it's victory for Primož Roglič. He takes red with it.

Enric Mas took third place.

Sivakov fifth, O'Connor sixth, Evenepoel eighth, Hindley 10th.

Roglič won that with some ease in the end. He put several bike lengths into Pedersen there.

Roglič celebrates his victory in Laguardia.

That's the 10th stage win of Roglič's Vuelta career.

Yates, Chaves, Higuita, Carapaz, Landa, Almeida, Urán, Carthy, López all on the wrong side of a seven-second split at the finish line.

Roglič and Kuss are at the top of the GC standings, by the way. 13 seconds separate the pair.

Here's a look at our report for stage 4

A look at that dash to the finish.

Roglič in red on the podium.

Elsewhere, Sam Bennett retains the points jersey and Ethan Hayter stays in white while Joan Bou of Euskaltel-Euskadi takes over the polka dot mountain jersey.

Check out the current GC standings after stage 4 here

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