Pais Vasco: Roglic wins time trial in Lodosa

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Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) stormed to victory in the stage 4 time trial at the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco and took the overall lead in Lodosa. He covered the 19.4km course with a winning time of 22:26 beating Patrick Bevin (BMC), an early starter who sat in the hot seat for most of the race, by nine seconds. Vasil Kiryienka (Team Sky) was third at 11 seconds.

"I knew that all eyes were on me as a pursuer in the GC and as time trial specialist," Roglic said. "That provided extra pressure. It was a flat time trial, but there was a lot of wind. At the finish I saw that I had the fastest time, which made me very happy of course."

Roglic placed second in the first two stages behind overnight leader Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors). He sat second overall heading into the time trial but only need to make up eight seconds to surpass Alaphilippe, and he did, with the Frenchman finishing eighth on the day and 42 seconds down.

Roglic now leads the overall classification with a 34-second advantage over Alaphilippe, while Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) moved up into third place at 1:33 back.

"We should not get ahead of ourselves. At the beginning of the course I already said that I want to take it one day at a time. It's not going to be easy, but I'm really looking forward to the last stages," Roglic said.

How it unfolded

Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco's fourth stage was a mainly flat individual time trial, with one minor rise ahead of the run-in to the finish line.

Alaphilippe started the day in the leader's jersey after winning the opening stage in a two-man sprint ahead of Roglic. He extended his lead after winning the second stage, again beating Roglic, in Bermeo.

He retained the overall lead after stage 3 in Valdegovia, but the eight-second margin to Roglic likely wouldn't be enough to hold off the strong time triallist from taking the yellow jersey.

Of the early time trial starters, Bevin set the benchmark high with a 22:36. He waited patiently in the hot seat as rider after rider raced through the finish line unable to crack his time.

Team Sky were the closest with quick times set by Michal Kwiatkowski, then Vasil Kiryienka and Jonathan Castroviejo. Kiryienka was the fastest but still 11 seconds shy of Bevin's time, and he slid into the runner-up spot.

When it was time for the overall contenders to roll off the start ramp, it was clear that Roglic was going to be Bevin's main opponent for the stage win, largely through his efforts to move into the overall lead.

Roglic set the third fastest time at the 11km time check, 11:19, but was able to hold his speed all the way to the finish line to beat Bevin by nine seconds.

It was up to Alaphilippe to defend his overall place, but after posting a slower check-point split, it was clear that he wasn't going to be able to hold off Roglic from taking the jersey. He finished 42 seconds slower and slid into second overall at 34 seconds down.

There were some changes to the overall classification after the time trial. Mollema finished ninth place on the day but moved up into third overall. Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) moved up to fourth, Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) dropped to fifth, Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) moved up to sixth, and Mikel Landa (Movistar) dropped to seventh.

While Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) dropped out of the top 10, Nairo Quintana (Movistar) moved up into ninth, and Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) moved into tenth.

Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco continues with stage 5's 164.7km between Gasteiz and Eibar.

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