Pais Vasco: Rodriguez wins stage 4 in Arrate

Katusha's Joaquím Rodríguez took his second consecutive win on stage 4 at the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco on Thursday. The Spaniard was a part of a select group of climbers that formed on the steep slopes of the late-race climb over the Usartza, and following a fast two-kilometre descent into Arrate, he out-sprinted his rivals at the finish. Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing) was second in the sprint and Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) was third.

"Finally I did it. I knew I had to go fast in the last two corners. I had to make up something after Valverde beat me in 2012 here after a photo finish. I didn't dare to lift my hands too early. Arrate is a classic finish and it is an honor to win here," Rodriguez said. 

Team Sky’s Sergio Henao, who moved into the overall leader’s jersey after placing second to Rodriguez in the previous day’s stage 3 three-up sprint, narrowly held onto the yellow jersey after placing fifth in Arrate. He heads into the fifth stage on Friday as the leader but with the same time as both runner-up Rodriquez and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) in third.

How it happened

The fourth stage of Pais Vasco brought the riders on a 162.2km race from Zumarraga to Arrate. It was another challenging day with climbs over the Asentzio (cat 2), Karabieta (cat 2), Izua (cat 2), Gaintzagagaina (cat 3), Santa Eufemia (cat 3), Pinares (cat 3) and the finale Usartza (cat 1), which peaked with two kilometres to the finish line.

A large break set off at the start of the stage but it broke apart after the first 40km. Riders in that original move were Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep), Tom Danielson (Cannondale-Garmin), Peio Bilbao (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Rohan Dennis and Philippe Gilbert (BMC), Lieuwe Westra (Astana), Michal Golas (Etixx-QuickStep), Pieter Weening (Orica-GreenEdge), Bob Jungels and Fabio Felline (Trek Factory Racing), Maxime Monfort (Lotto Soudal), Matteo Bono (Lampre-Merida), Nicki Sorensen (Tinkoff-Saxo), Yoann Bragot and Romain Hardy (Cofidis).

Team Sky set the pace for the day for their overall leader Henao, and although they didn’t let the dangerous move get too far, four riders were able to skirt off the front of it and gain a couple of minutes.

Martin, who has been a highly active player in the week’s racing, drove the four-man move that also included Danielson, Hardy and Bilbao. That breakaway also broke apart with Martin and Danielson pushing on alone, leaving Bilbao and Hardy to be swept up by the field.

With Martin only one minute down on the general classification, the field kept them on a tight leash over the day’s ascents. By the time they reached the Pinares with 35km to go, the gap had begun to drop to 1:30.

Movistar assumed some of the chase responsibilities for their rider Quintana, who was in third place overall but at the same time as Henao and Rodriguez. They rolled to the front and offered to help Team Sky with the pace setting.

Further back in the field, Rodriguez lost one of his teammates, Angel Vicioso, who had an unfortunate crash while pacing himself back up to the field in the caravan.

Bad luck continued for Katusha with 24km to go as Rodriguez had to take a bike change before slowly chasing his way back to the main field ahead of the final climb.

"The break had many minutes for most of the day," Rodriguez said. "Movistar and Sky took the race in hand and the speeds were so fast... The crash of Vicioso changed our team tactics a bit. I had to change bikes and then come back so that cost me some energy, but fortunately the last climb suited me very well." 

With Rodriguez off the back, Lampre-Merdia moved their riders to the front to set a quick pace for their man Rui Costa. Trek Factory Racing also joined the chase for Mollema and Julian Arredondo and Orica-GreenEdge for Simon Yates and Esteban Chaves.

The breakaway lost its momentum when Danielson dropped his chain on the descent off of the Pinares and had to fight to get back on to Martin’s wheel. However, the pair only had a 15-second margin at that point, and it was only going to drop further as the race approached the Usartza with 13km to go.

The field was all back together ahead of the day’s final cat 1 climb, which averaged 10.7 per cent and some sections as steep as 20 per cent near the top.

Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) and Ion Izagirre (Movistar) made their move and distanced the field, allowing their respective teammates Rodriguez and Quintana to sit back while the others chased.

Zakarin distanced himself from Izagirre and tried to go alone but his efforts weren’t strong enough to stop Henao from jumping across the gap him with 3.3km to go.

Movistar and Astana riders led the pace of the main chase group up the climb with Katusha riders sitting on their wheel. They managed to bring the gap to Henao and Zakarin down to three seconds as the race approached the crest of the climb.

Izagirre made another attack from the small main group, which was down to roughly 12 riders. The move was short-lived but it caused the overall pace to quicken and they caught Henao and Zakarin on the descent with just 1.9km to go.

Katusha immediately took control of the group on the twisty descent but Henao fought hard to stay at the front, dragging the field downhill and into the flatter section at the bottom with 500 metres to go. 

"When Henao went, I thought Quintana would go too, but he didn’t. Then I spoke with Simon [Spilak] and told him I needed his help. Good positioning was more important than speed at that moment," Rodriguez said.

And in almost the exact same sequence as the day before, Rodriguez jumped around Henao through the final corners and took the win.

The fifth stage of Pais Vasco on Friday will include a 155.5km race from Eibar to Aia. It is the last hilly road race stage before the finale 18.3km time trial in Aia on Saturday. "Tomorrow also suits me very well. We cross the Aia pass three times. I like this stage the most of all of them. If I can recover from these past two days, we’ll see how I can do for the GC," Rodriguez said.

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