Tour of the Basque Country 2017 – Stage 4 [FULL STAGE]

April 06, 2017
Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol 2017 – Stage 4– Donostia – Bilbo – 174,1 km

The 2017 Tour of the Basque Country is a road cycling stage race that is scheduled to take place between 3 and 8 April. It will be the 57th edition of the Tour of the Basque Country and will be the fourteenth event of the 2017 UCI World Tour.

Primoz Roglic (LottoNl-Jumbo) claimed the fourth stage of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco Thursday, attacking from a reduced peloton with less than three kilometres to go and holding out to take the win at the line.

The Slovenian made multiple attempts to get clear as the pack neared the Bilbao finish, attacking on the final climb and the final descent before finally succeeding on the flat run-in to the line. The fast finishers in the pack settled for sprinting for second place, with Orica-Scott’s Michael Matthews taking runner-up honors on the day and Bahrain Merida’s Giovanni Visconti pipping Sky’s Michal Kwiatkowski for third.

Quick-Step’s David de la Cruz held on to the overall race lead by one second over Roglic, with the queen stage on tap for Friday.

How it unfolded

It took quite some time for the day’s main breakaway to form on a stage 4 with two categorised climbs on the menu, including a second-category ascent crested 14 kilometres from the line.

A quartet of escapees only made it clear after more than an hour of racing, with Toms Skujins (Cannondale-Drapac), Maxim Belkov (Katusha-Alpecin), Jonathan Lastra (Caja Rural) and Amaël Moinard (BMC Racing) forming the move.

The breakers’ advantage grew to around four minutes before it stabilised about 100 kilometres from the finish, with Quick-Step Floors leading the peloton. There was little change over the course of the ensuing 40 kilometres, before the pack began gradually reeling in the escapees just after cresting the first categorised climb, with Astana coming to the front to string out the peloton.

That brought the gap down quickly, with the break’s advantage down to two minutes with 40 kilometres to go.

A pair of crashes brought down several notables in the pack over the ensuing kilometres. Steve Cummings (Dimension Data), Darwin Atapuma (BMC Racing) and Dani Navarro (Cofidis) all abandoned the race after hitting the deck hard in the second incident. Trek’s Alberto Contador was caught up as well, but came away more or less unscathed.

The pileups did not stall the chase, however. The peloton had closed to within a minute with 30 kilometres to go and the gap continued to fall rapidly from there, spurring Skujins and Moinard to push clear of Belkov and Lastra. Belkov and Lastra were caught shortly after, and the two survivors out front wouldn’t last long.

Moinard dropped back a few seconds later, leaving just Skuijns holding on for another two minutes before he too was mopped up.

With everything brought back together, it wasn’t long before attacks began to fly from the peloton on the day’s final climb. Dimension Data’s Serge Pauwels opened up an advantage in the early goings of the ascent, just as Trek’s Alberto Contador suffered an untimely mechanical and was forced to take a teammate’s bike. The Spaniard managed to make his way back to the front of the race quickly enough, though not without ample effort on the second-category slopes.

Pauwels’ attack drew out a few other climbing talents, but a lined-out peloton closed the gap before long. Then it was Nicolas Roche’s turn to strike for BMC. Pauwels made an unsuccessful attempt to bridge, but a Quick-Step-led pack closed down the move a few hundred metres later. Orica-Scott’s Roman Kreuziger was the next to try his luck, but he could not get much breathing room with a hard-charging Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors) driving the pace in the peloton.

Approaching the top of the climb, Roglic made a tentative attack that drew responses from several GC hopefuls, causing splits in the dwindled peloton but not quite propelling the Slovenian clear. Roglic tried to solo away again on the descent, opening up a small gap for several seconds, but the rest of the main GC group swept him up in short order.

The lead group was down to around 25 riders by the time the road flattened out again for the final six kilometres.

With around 2.5 kilometres to go, Roglic made his third and final attack, and this time, it stuck. Mas and then race-leader De la Cruz himself came close to shutting down the move before flagging and allowing Roglic to pull out a few more metres off the front.

That was all he needed to stay clear all the way to the line, with a small crash in the bunch in the final corners possibly contributing to his success. Roglic rolled down the finishing straight with two seconds on the chasers, denying Matthews and the other fast finishers their chance at battling for the win in the last few hundred metres.

Results :
1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 4:23:46
2 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:03
3 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
4 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky
5 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott
6 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
7 Rudy Molard (Fra) FDJ
8 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
9 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
10 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
11 David De La Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
12 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team
13 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Bahrain-Merida
14 Jaime Roson (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
15 George Bennett (NZl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
16 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac
17 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Dimension Data
18 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Orica-Scott
19 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
20 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
21 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
22 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
23 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data
24 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
25 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team
26 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
27 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates
28 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
29 Victor De La Parte (Spa) Movistar Team
30 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal
31 Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac
32 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky
33 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
34 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
35 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team
36 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb
37 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team
38 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
39 Igor Anton (Spa) Dimension Data 0:01:28
40 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
41 Alexander Aranburu (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
42 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac
43 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
44 Luis Angel Mate (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
45 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb 0:00:03
46 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky 0:01:28
47 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Katusha-Alpecin
48 Ondrej Cink (Cze) Bahrain-Merida
49 Sebastian Henao (Col) Team Sky
50 Paul Martens (Ger) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
51 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
52 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Movistar Team
53 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
54 Sean De Bie (Bel) Lotto Soudal
55 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal
56 Jack Haig (Aus) Orica-Scott
57 Daniel Moreno (Spa) Movistar Team
58 Ángel Vicioso (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin
59 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
60 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky
61 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
62 Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Sunweb
63 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky
64 Carlos Verona (Spa) Orica-Scott
65 Sergio Pardilla (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
66 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:25
67 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:28
68 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Sunweb 0:03:37
69 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
70 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) FDJ
71 André Cardoso (Por) Trek-Segafredo
72 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
73 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJ 0:04:20
74 Matej Mohoric (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
75 Jon Irisarri (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
76 Matvey Mamykin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
77 Jesus Hernandez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
78 Ben Swift (GBr) UAE Team Emirates
79 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team
80 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
81 Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:00:03
82 Omar Fraile (Spa) Dimension Data 0:05:22
83 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data
84 Adrien Niyonshuti (Rwa) Dimension Data
85 Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-Scott
86 Cedric Pineau (Fra) FDJ
87 Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ
88 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Orica-Scott
89 Mathias Leturnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
90 Yoann Bagot (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
91 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
92 Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
93 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
94 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
95 Rob Power (Aus) Orica-Scott
96 Silvio Herklotz (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:06:18
97 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:08:05
98 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:08:11
99 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin
100 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ
101 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:09:12
102 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida
103 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
104 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
105 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
106 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
107 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
108 Juan Jose Lobato (Spa) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
109 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
110 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
111 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
112 Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
113 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
114 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
115 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
116 Fabricio Ferrari (Uru) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
117 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
118 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors
119 Julien Berard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
120 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Katusha-Alpecin
121 Rafael Reis (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
122 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
123 Alex Howes (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
124 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:10:56
125 Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ 0:12:04
126 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:12:29
127 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates
128 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky
129 Simon Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
130 Toms Skujins (Lat) Cannondale-Drapac
131 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
132 Luis Mas (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
133 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
134 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
135 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team
136 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
137 Amael Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team
138 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
139 Martin Velits (Svk) Quick-Step Floors
140 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Astana Pro Team
141 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
142 Jonathan Lastra (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
143 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
144 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data 0:13:32
145 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
146 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
147 Léo Vincent (Fra) FDJ
148 Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
149 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-Scott

General classification after stage 4 :
1 David De La Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors 16:38:43
2 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
3 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:00:03
4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
5 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
6 Rudy Molard (Fra) FDJ
7 George Bennett (NZl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
8 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
9 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac
10 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
11 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
12 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
13 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data
14 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Dimension Data
15 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team
16 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb
17 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
18 Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
19 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
20 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
21 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky
22 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
23 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Bahrain-Merida
24 Jaime Roson (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
25 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
26 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team
27 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
28 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates
29 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
30 Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac
31 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
32 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:01:02
33 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
34 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:28
35 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
36 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
37 Sebastian Henao (Col) Team Sky
38 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky
39 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Katusha-Alpecin
40 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott 0:01:33
41 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Orica-Scott 0:01:41
42 Alexander Aranburu (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:02:27
43 Ángel Vicioso (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin
44 Daniel Moreno (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:58
45 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:03:06
46 Carlos Verona (Spa) Orica-Scott
47 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:25
48 Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:04:27
49 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team 0:04:47
50 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:04:55
51 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Sunweb 0:05:07
52 Victor De La Parte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:05:46
53 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb
54 Omar Fraile (Spa) Dimension Data 0:06:21
55 Paul Martens (Ger) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:07:11
56 Ondrej Cink (Cze) Bahrain-Merida
57 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky
58 Jack Haig (Aus) Orica-Scott
59 Sean De Bie (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:08:40
60 Luis Angel Mate (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
61 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) FDJ 0:09:20
62 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
63 André Cardoso (Por) Trek-Segafredo
64 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:09:51
65 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:10:11
66 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:10:51
67 Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:11:05
68 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:12:17
69 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:12:31
70 Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:13:40
71 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team 0:14:10
72 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal
73 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Katusha-Alpecin 0:14:55
74 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:15:20
75 Jon Irisarri (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:15:29
76 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac 0:15:35
77 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky
78 Sergio Pardilla (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
79 Igor Anton (Spa) Dimension Data 0:17:00
80 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:17:35
81 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:17:44
82 Matvey Mamykin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:18:27
83 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
84 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:19:15
85 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:19:29
86 Rob Power (Aus) Orica-Scott
87 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Orica-Scott
88 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:19:41
89 Matej Mohoric (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 0:19:52
90 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Movistar Team 0:20:03
91 Yoann Bagot (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:20:36
92 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJ 0:21:03
93 Jesus Hernandez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:21:24
94 Silvio Herklotz (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:21:40
95 Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-Scott 0:22:05
96 Mathias Leturnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
97 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:22:12
98 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:23:12
99 Juan Jose Lobato (Spa) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:23:19
100 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
101 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data 0:23:22
102 Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ 0:23:29
103 Cedric Pineau (Fra) FDJ 0:23:34
104 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ 0:23:47
105 Ben Swift (GBr) UAE Team Emirates 0:23:56
106 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:24:33
107 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida 0:24:44
108 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
109 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
110 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
111 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:24:54
112 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors 0:25:55
113 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
114 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
115 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
116 Rafael Reis (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
117 Julien Berard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
118 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:26:24
119 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:26:28
120 Toms Skujins (Lat) Cannondale-Drapac 0:26:36
121 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky
122 Amael Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team
123 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
124 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin 0:27:22
125 Alex Howes (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:27:30
126 Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ 0:27:36
127 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:27:39
128 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data
129 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:27:56
130 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:28:01
131 Jonathan Lastra (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
132 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates
133 Fabricio Ferrari (Uru) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:28:04
134 Adrien Niyonshuti (Rwa) Dimension Data 0:28:21
135 Simon Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac 0:28:55
136 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
137 Léo Vincent (Fra) FDJ 0:29:04
138 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:29:12
139 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
140 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:29:17
141 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:29:42
142 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:30:41
143 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:32:11
144 Luis Mas (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:32:17
145 Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:32:43
146 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:33:41
147 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:35:23
148 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:35:39
149 Martin Velits (Svk) Quick-Step Floors 0:40:15