Vuelta al Pais Vasco: Samuel Sanchez wins stage 4 in Orio

Samuel Sanchez launched a winning attack with one kilometre to go over the top of a small climb and held off the chase to take a slim but solo victory on stage 4 of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. The BMC rider finished just ahead of chasers Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) and Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin).

Wilco Kelderman (LottoNl-Jumbo) moved into the overall lead by six seconds ahead of Sergio Henao (Team Sky). Henao’s teammate Mikel Landa, who struggled over the decisive final climb of Aia, slipped into third at seven seconds back.

Never an easy day at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, stage 4 took the peloton on a 165km race from Lesaka to Orio. The day’s climbs began with Alto de Jaizkibel (Cat 1) and Aldo de Arkale (Cat 3).

After a somewhat flatter section of terrain and some reprieve, the racers hit the Alto de Aia (Cat 2) and the Alto de Garate (Cat 2). The race ended with two climbs over the Alto de Aia (Cat 2) followed by a fast descent and a small uphill kick to the finish line in Orio.

The start of the stage saw the overall classification in a tight-knit battle led by Landa, who was only one second ahead of Keldermann, but he could start the stage with some added confidence knowing his teammate Henao was close behind in third, five seconds back.

The day’s breakaway of six riders were Simone Petilli (Lampre-Merida), Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal), Christopher Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale), Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis), Carlos Verona (Etixx-QuickStep) and Angel Vicioso (Katusha).

The breakaway split up briefly over the Garate ascent with Mate leading Verona, Wellens and Riblon over the top, but Vicioso and Petilli soon caught back up on the other side.

Team Sky had set the pace for all of the stage, keeping the breakaway at roughly 2:30 minutes but they increased their speed at the front of the peloton to bring that gap down to 1:30 with 22km to go.

On the Aia, Barguil jumped ahead of the Team Sky-led main group and Tinkoff sent Roman Kreuziger on his heels to take the pressure off of Alberto Contador. Astana soon came to the fore and shut down the move altogether.

Viscioso fell off pace over the climb and was eventually swept up by the field, but the other five breakaway riders continued on with a one-minute lead.

The next time up Aia, Wellens and Verona gapped their breakaway companions, as the riders behind were grinding their gears just to get over the steep incline. Team Sky continued a strong hold on the smaller 40-some-man field.

On the steepest section, which was reported to be 28%, Contador, Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Henao bridge up to the two breakaway riders, but race leader Landa fell further and further back in the field.

Over the top, Verona attacked the newly formed lead group and although Wellens tried to get across it was a case of too little too late and by the time they reached the descent Verona was already ahead by six seconds.

Verona built his lead to 15 seconds over chasers Mate and Wellens, while Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Fabio Aru (Astana), who emerged off of the steep slopes of Aia, chased further back.

Wellens and Mate caught Verona with just under three kilometres to go but a quick pace set by Kreuziger at the front of the field, with Costa on his wheel, resulted in the race coming back together with two kilometres to go.

Contador made a move on the small kicker toward the finish line and Henao tried to latch onto his wheel.

Sanchez followed closely and then launched an attack that Contador could not respond to, and he built a small gap over the top. Tucked into a tight aero position on the descent, Sanchez powered his way to the finish line in Orio to take the stage victory for BMC. 

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