Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol 2017 – Stage 4 [LAST 25 KM]

February 18, 2017
Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol 2017 – Stage 4– La Campana – Sevilla – 179,3 km

The Vuelta a Andalucía (Tour of Andalusia) or Ruta del Sol (Route of the Sun) is a regional Spanish road bicycle race first held in 1925. Since 2005, it has been a 2.1 category race on the UCI Europe Tour. The nickname, Ruta del Sol, is in reference to the region’s popular tourist coastline the Costa del Sol.

Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie) sprinted to victory in Sevilla on stage 4 of the Ruta del Sol, collecting his second victory of the season.

The Frenchman, who picked up his first victory at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana earlier this month, got the better of Daniel Hoelgaard (FDJ) on the flat finish in the city centre, with Hugo Hofstetter (Cofidis), finishing third.

A technical finale and a chicane in the final 300 metres complicated the lead-outs, and positioning was all-important going round the final bend. Just after coming through it, Hoelgaard was in full flow, but Coquard didn’t panic and there was enough space for him to get on terms and come through for a narrow victory.

In what was the first ‘day off’ from a general classification perspective, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) finished safely in the bunch to hold onto his overall lead.

The Spaniard leads the race by a second from compatriot Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) ahead of Sunday’s final stage, which features hills but is nevertheless set to produce a bunch finish. That said, rain is predicted in the region tomorrow, and Valverde won’t be celebrating a moment too soon.

“Nothing is settled,” he said. “With the rain forecast tomorrow, the potential mishaps require you to be fully on your guard.”

How it unfolded

After two big mountain stages and an individual time trial, the sprinters who had ventured to Andalucia finally got what they were waiting for.

There were still some hills on the menu – three of them in fact – but they all came before the half-way mark on the 180km leg from La Campana to Sevilla. The rest was either downhill or flat, and the sprint teams were never going to allow things to slip from their control.

A breakaway went after around 27km, and it contained: Martijn Keizer (Lotto-Jumbo), Diego Rubio (Caja Rural), Jerome Cousin (Cofidis), Lukasz Owsian (CCC), Martijn Budding (Roompot) and Jens Wallays (Sport Vlaanderen).

The group built a lead of two and a half minutes as Budding collected the points on the first two climbs and Cousin the third – none of which were higher than second-category ascents – while Keizer won the intermediate sprint just after the final climb.

But they weren’t allowed much leeway from the sprint teams, which gradually reduced the gap in the second half of the race, bringing it below a minute with 30km to race. That said, there were glimmers of hope for the break heading into the final several kilometres, still with a gap of close to half a minute.

With 5km to go, however, they stopped collaborating, with Keizer, Rubio, and Cousin rolling the dice. That spelt their end, however, and Cousin was the last to be caught with 3.2km remaining.

At that point it was over to the sprint trains, with Direct Energie, Lotto Soudal and Cofidis all gathering at the front. A Roompot rider took a flyer inside the final two kilometres but took a wrong turn and took himself out of the picture.

There were several kinks and turns in the final kilometre, the last of which came some 280 metres from the line. Hoelgaard came through in pole position, but there was enough distance for Coquard to come through and show his superiority.

Results :
1 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Direct Energie 4:10:33
2 Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) FDJ
3 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
4 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal
5 Raymond Kreder (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
6 Mihkel Räim (Est) Israel Cycling Academy
7 Roman Maikin (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
8 Maxime Farazijn (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
9 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac
10 Eduard Prades (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
11 Edward Planckaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
12 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
13 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida
14 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
15 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb
16 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Sunweb
17 Dennis Van Winden (Ned) Israel Cycling Academy
18 Daniel Lopez (Spa) Burgos BH
19 Ibai Salas (Spa) Burgos BH
20 Aidis Kruopis (Ltu) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
21 José Manuel Díaz (Spa) Israel Cycling Academy
22 Maciej Paterski (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
23 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team
24 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal
25 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky
26 Stef Clement (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
27 Adrian Gonzalez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
28 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
29 Pello Olaberria (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
30 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
31 Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Cycling Academy
32 Kevin Deltombe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
33 Mark Mcnally (GBr) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
34 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
35 Garikoitz Bravo Oiarbide (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
36 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Cannondale-Drapac
37 Berden De Vries (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
38 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
39 Michal Schlegel (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
40 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky
41 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky
42 Angelo Tulik (Fra) Direct Energie
43 Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky
44 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky
45 William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ
46 Antonio Molina (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
47 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
48 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
49 Felix Großschartner (Aut) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
50 Javier Moreno (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
51 Bram Tankink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
52 Ruben Pols (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
53 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
54 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) FDJ
55 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky
56 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
57 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky
58 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ
59 Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
60 Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
61 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) FDJ
62 Pieter Weening (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
63 Aitor Gonzalez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
64 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
65 Anton Vorobyev (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
66 Oscar Riesebeek (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
67 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
68 Simon Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
69 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
70 Nick Van Der Lijke (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
71 André Cardoso (Por) Trek-Segafredo
72 Florian Senechal (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
73 Alvaro Robredo (Spa) Burgos BH
74 Gotzon Udondo (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
75 Daniel Turek (Cze) Israel Cycling Academy
76 Ondrej Cink (Cze) Bahrain-Merida
77 Leszek Plucinski (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
78 Dmitriy Kozontchuk (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
79 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb
80 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal
81 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
82 David Belda (Spa) Burgos BH
83 Andrei Solomennikov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
84 Jérôme Baugnies (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
85 Victor De La Parte (Spa) Movistar Team
86 Hector Saez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
87 Jon Irisarri (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
88 Aydar Zakarin (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
89 Sindre Skjøstad Lunke (Nor) Team Sunweb
90 Alexander Aranburu (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
91 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
92 Eliot Lietaer (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
93 Jorge Cubero Galvez (Spa) Burgos BH
94 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
95 Jan Hirt (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
96 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
97 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
98 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team
99 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal
100 Mikel Bizkarra Etxegibel (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
101 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
102 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
103 Igor Merino (Spa) Burgos BH
104 Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ
105 Martijn Budding (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
106 Marcin Bialoblocki (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
107 Luis Lemus (Mex) Israel Cycling Academy
108 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
109 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:21
110 Steve Morabito (Swi) FDJ 0:00:39
111 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:41
112 Bart De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:55
113 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:56
114 Thomas Boudat (Fra) Direct Energie 0:01:10
115 Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie 0:01:14
116 Huub Duijn (Ned) Veranda’s Willems Crelan 0:01:21
117 Pim Ligthart (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
118 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
119 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal
120 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Cannondale-Drapac
121 Hugh Carthy (GBr) Cannondale-Drapac
122 Jesus Hernandez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
123 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb
124 Elias Van Breussegem (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan 0:01:37
125 Jorge Arcas Peña (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:55
126 Martijn Keizer (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:02:01
127 Jerome Cousin (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:02:08
128 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:15
129 Diego Rubio (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:02:34
130 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Movistar Team 0:02:36
131 Otto Vergaerde (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan 0:02:49
132 Sander Cordeel (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
133 Jens Wallays (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise 0:03:09
134 Julien Morice (Fra) Direct Energie 0:04:00
135 Yohann Gene (Fra) Direct Energie 0:05:09
136 Romain Sicard (Fra) Direct Energie
137 Kirill Sveshnikov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo

General Classification after stage 4
1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 13:12:07
2 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:01
3 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ 0:00:06
4 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky 0:00:21
5 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky 0:00:45
6 Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky 0:00:48
7 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) FDJ 0:00:52
8 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac 0:01:29
9 Ondrej Cink (Cze) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:48
10 Javier Moreno (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:50
11 Pieter Weening (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:01:57
12 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb 0:02:04
13 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky 0:02:27
14 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:46
15 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:03:47
16 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:03:53
17 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:04:13
18 Stef Clement (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:04:29
19 Eduard Prades (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:04:48
20 Bart De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:04:52
21 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:04:59
22 Sindre Skjøstad Lunke (Nor) Team Sunweb
23 Michal Schlegel (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:05:12
24 Oscar Riesebeek (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
25 Garikoitz Bravo Oiarbide (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:05:25
26 André Cardoso (Por) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:29
27 David Belda (Spa) Burgos BH 0:05:36
28 Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:06:24
29 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:08:04
30 Mikel Bizkarra Etxegibel (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:08:19
31 Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:08:53
32 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:08:56
33 Victor De La Parte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:09:42
34 Jan Hirt (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:09:56
35 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:09:57
36 Hector Saez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:10:09
37 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:10:12
38 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:10:14
39 Nick Van Der Lijke (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:10:18
40 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:10:38
41 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team 0:11:26
42 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:11:39
43 Hugh Carthy (GBr) Cannondale-Drapac 0:12:00
44 Martijn Budding (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:12:29
45 Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Cycling Academy 0:12:38
46 Eliot Lietaer (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise 0:12:42
47 Steve Morabito (Swi) FDJ 0:13:00
48 Romain Sicard (Fra) Direct Energie 0:13:32
49 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal 0:13:46
50 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) FDJ 0:13:57
51 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky 0:14:34
52 Igor Merino (Spa) Burgos BH 0:15:09
53 Leszek Plucinski (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:15:10
54 Alexander Aranburu (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:16:02
55 Jerome Cousin (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:16:05
56 Huub Duijn (Ned) Veranda’s Willems Crelan 0:16:08
57 Kevin Deltombe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise 0:17:02
58 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:17:26
59 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan 0:18:06
60 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:18:29
61 Jon Irisarri (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:18:35
62 Anton Vorobyev (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:18:38
63 Jesus Hernandez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:19:49
64 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:20:20
65 Luis Lemus (Mex) Israel Cycling Academy 0:21:10
66 Antonio Molina (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:21:15
67 Simon Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac 0:21:21
68 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 0:21:23
69 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:21:44
70 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Sunweb 0:21:45
71 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Cannondale-Drapac 0:21:53
72 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Cannondale-Drapac 0:22:04
73 Maciej Paterski (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:22:20
74 Angelo Tulik (Fra) Direct Energie 0:22:43
75 Ibai Salas (Spa) Burgos BH 0:23:11
76 Jorge Cubero Galvez (Spa) Burgos BH 0:23:35
77 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:23:49
78 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:23:59
79 Jérôme Baugnies (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:24:16
80 Thomas Boudat (Fra) Direct Energie 0:24:48
81 Maxime Farazijn (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise 0:25:19
82 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:25:40
83 Bram Tankink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:25:41
84 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Movistar Team 0:25:59
85 Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) FDJ 0:26:27
86 Dennis Van Winden (Ned) Israel Cycling Academy 0:26:38
87 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:26:42
88 Andrei Solomennikov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:26:46
89 Dmitriy Kozontchuk (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:26:58
90 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
91 Mihkel Räim (Est) Israel Cycling Academy 0:26:59
92 William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ 0:27:23
93 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky 0:28:00
94 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal 0:28:07
95 Daniel Turek (Cze) Israel Cycling Academy 0:28:17
96 Aydar Zakarin (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:28:43
97 Raymond Kreder (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:28:50
98 Pim Ligthart (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:28:54
99 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:29:05
100 José Manuel Díaz (Spa) Israel Cycling Academy 0:29:08
101 Florian Senechal (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:29:39
102 Aitor Gonzalez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:30:35
103 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy 0:30:43
104 Julien Morice (Fra) Direct Energie 0:30:45
105 Jens Wallays (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise 0:30:49
106 Edward Planckaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
107 Felix Großschartner (Aut) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:30:53
108 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Direct Energie 0:30:57
109 Martijn Keizer (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:31:45
110 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:32:00
111 Otto Vergaerde (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan 0:32:28
112 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:33:05
113 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:33:06
114 Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ 0:33:09
115 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team 0:33:36
116 Ruben Pols (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
117 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida 0:34:00
118 Yohann Gene (Fra) Direct Energie 0:34:23
119 Berden De Vries (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:34:29
120 Jorge Arcas Peña (Spa) Movistar Team 0:34:36
121 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:35:00
122 Adrian Gonzalez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:35:07
123 Aidis Kruopis (Ltu) Veranda’s Willems Crelan 0:35:28
124 Mark Mcnally (GBr) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:35:31
125 Diego Rubio (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:35:34
126 Daniel Lopez (Spa) Burgos BH 0:35:48
127 Marcin Bialoblocki (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:36:37
128 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:37:17
129 Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie 0:37:56
130 Pello Olaberria (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:38:07
131 Alvaro Robredo (Spa) Burgos BH 0:38:53
132 Sander Cordeel (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan 0:39:23
133 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Trek-Segafredo 0:39:45
134 Elias Van Breussegem (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan 0:41:03
135 Gotzon Udondo (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:41:38
136 Roman Maikin (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:41:55
137 Kirill Sveshnikov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:48:49