Poels wins Eibar stage of Pais Vasco

Wout Poels (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) won stage 4 of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco from Vitoria to Arrate with a late attack on the final climb. The Dutch rider held off a late chase from the overall contenders, with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Samuel Sanchez (Team BMC) taking second and third, respectively.

Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) attacked several times on the last climb before the short descent to the finish but was unable to distance his main rival, Valverde, who shaved a couple of seconds off Contador’s overall race lead with a late surge.

Poels came into the race as a super-domestique for his team leader, Michal Kwiatkowski, but found himself in a select group on the final climb of Usartza. Until that point Contador had thrown down several menacing and confident attacks but had failed to shake off Valverde’s ambitions of challenging for overall honours.

With the two main favourites cancelling each other out, Poels, Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R) and Simon Spilak (Katusha) levied clear. Contador looked to have control of the situation though, first allowing the foursome to open a gap before unleashing another attack.

However the Spaniard was unable to make contact by the summit, and although he’d caused havoc among the GC contenders and reeled in Pinot, Peraud and Spilak, Poels was simply given too much room. He broke the elastic to his breakaway companions thanks to several accelerations, and on the downhill run-in to the line it was leader-turned-domestique, Kwiatkowski, who slowed down the chase. It gave Peols enough of a buffer to hang on, but only just, with Valverde nipping two seconds off Contador's overall lead.

The climbers return

After yesterday’s sprint antics the race returned to the battle for overall honours. Like every stage in the race, the route was packed with climbing, although unlike yesterday the peloton were given a flatter build up before the climbing started after 59 kilometres.

After yesterday's inch perfect leadout for Michael Matthews, Orica-GreenEdge's Simon Gerrans, along with Cayetano José Sarmiento failed to start.

Luis Leon Sanchez was part of the first serious move of the day, escaping with Alexsandr Dyachenko (Astana) and Jean-Marc Marino (Cannondale). The trio were no threat on the overall situation and all looked good for them as they established a 20 second lead after 20 kilometres of racing. The situation looked even better when Ben King and Nelson Oliveira joined the fray and after 43 kilometres the gap had moved out to 50 seconds.

Everything changed after the Asentzio, the first climb of the day. The peloton were still itching to race, and they drew the leaders close enough for a counter, with Roy, Durasek, Dumoulin, Rolland, Spilak, Gastauer and Bakelants going on the attack.

When the dust settled Durasek (Lampre-Merida), Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano) and Gastauer (Ag2r) found themselves clear with Sicard soon making it four riders in the lead. Herrada briefly made it five as they approached the lower slopes of the Ixua but he lost contact on the lower slopes, with Movistar forced to send Jon Izaguirre up the road to replace him.

The five leaders held a 52 second lead over the peloton on the climb with Tinkoff forced to chase. It was Rory Sutherland who took on the lion share of the chase duties. The Australian, with Contador neatly tucked in, powering over the summit of the Ixua and onto the Aiastia.

Durasek had briefly attacked the leaders but was caught on the slopes of the Aiastia and as the five up front swung though Baranga the gap was holding at respectable 50 seconds.

With Sutherland’s work done, Omega Pharma stormed the front of the peloton on the approach to the final climb. The leaders were duly caught and spat out with 12 kilometres remaining, and as the peloton hit the outskirts of Eibar, Contador, Cadel Evans, Damino Cunego, Valverde, van Garderen and Kwiatkowski were all present and accounted for.

There was a brief but impressive move from Orica GreenEdge pair Simon Yates and Pieter Weening slipping clear in bid to anticipate the main attacks and propel Yates up the road. With Tony Martin churning out the pace on the front of the peloton Yates was never let out of sight as Contador picked his way onto Valverde’s wheel. At times he almost looked oblivious to the rest of the race around him as he marked his rival and his teammate Roman Kreuziger set the pace.

It was too much for some with Frank Schleck, Ryder Hesjedal and Luis Leon Sanchez crumbling as the gradient rose. With just under 5 kilometres remaining Contador made his first move. Valverde followed with the pair sitting up to hold court on the situation. With the group reforming it was Samuel Sanchez who tried his luck next with Poels still on domestique duties and bringing the group back together.

Contador's second attack had just as much venom as the first but once again Valverde was able to respond. The third move resulted in the same situation with Evans, Van Garderen and Cunego all pacing themselves back into contention.

It was Spilak who sparked the key move, dragging Pinot clear with him before Poels and Peraud linked up to make it four in front. 

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