It was a day for the breakaway in southern Spain, as Equipo Kern Pharma’s Diego Uriarte took a stunning first professional victory on stage 4 of the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol.
The 23-year-old was one of six riders in contention for victory after the early break and was able to stay clear all day, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG content to defend the overall lead of Pavel Sivakov.
With just under two kilometres left to race, Uriarte launched a speculative early attack, but with the other riders looking at one another, he was able to cross the line first after just over four hours of racing to record a surprise win for his team. Alan Jousseaume (Team TotalEnergies) was second, and Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) completed the podium in third.
There was no change in the overall classification as the peloton rolled in over 4 minutes behind the winner, with Sivakov retaining the yellow leader’s jersey for the third day, Clement Berthet (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) second and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) third.
How it unfolded
The longest stage of the race at 194.3 kilometres, stage 4 began in Córdoba, and headed south back towards Spain’s south coast. A diminutive peloton of just 97 riders began the race, with a further 8 riders withdrawing from the race before the stage started.
Sivakov spent his second day in the leader’s jersey, enjoying a 23-second lead over Berthet in second place on GC. After an aggressive start to the day, with many teams keen to be involved in the day’s breakaway, a 14-rider lead group was finally established, and they began to build their gap over the peloton. It was a relatively modest advantage of no more than 2:30 for most of the race however, as without a rider among the group, the Wagner Bazin WB team were driving the pace in the bunch, presumably in the hope of eventually making the catch.
The day’s golden kilometre bonuses were divided amongst the breakaway riders with just over 70 kilometres remaining on the stage, too far from the stage finish to have any real impact on the overall classification.
The gap to the front of the race dropped below two minutes for the first time with around 54 kilometres remaining, with the other team to have missed out on the break - the Mexican continental side Petrolike - adding their numbers to the chase, and allowing UAE to conserve their energy in defence of Sivakov’s lead. They were unable to make much headway, however, and in fact, the gap began to extend again as they moved closer to the finish, extending some hope to the 12 remaining breakaway riders.
Heading into the final 25 kilometres, the deficit finally dropped below 1:30, but with UAE taking control at the front of the bunch, any hope left within the peloton of fighting for the stage win was extinguished as they put on the brakes, allowing the gap to swell and effectively neutralising the race from within the main bunch.
At the head of the race, with the message presumably getting through that the peloton had sat up, the attacking began with around 17 kilometres to go. Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale’s Callum Scotson was the most animated, forcing the rest to pursue, but of the remaining ten riders, only five were able to bridge across to Scotson: Uriarte, Swift, Jousseaume, Seb Berwick (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), and Danny van den Tuuk (Euskatel Euskadi).
Heading into Málaga, and the finish line in Alhaurín de la Torre, Uriarte launched an audacious attack with just under 2 kilometres remaining, and his gap began to grow as the group behind looked at each other, playing a dangerous game if they hoped to leave enough time for a counter-attack. It was too late for them all in the end – with the finish line coming into view, Uriarte checked over his shoulder and confirmed that he was about to realise an incredible achievement. He clutched his head in shock as he crossed the line to become a Spanish winner for a Spanish team at a Spanish race, taking his inaugural career victory in a real coup for his team.
The peloton arrived 4:31 after Uriarte, and with no late attacks from the main contenders, there was no change in the overall classification following the stage.
Results
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