VUELTA’20 Stage 4: Unbeatable Bennett!

Vuelta Stage Report: Sam Bennett (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) won the fourth stage of the Vuelta a España 2020. The Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider won the bunch sprint after a stage of 191.7 kilometres to Ejea de los Caballeros. Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) finished second, ahead of Jakub Mareczko (CCC).

Stage 4 prediction by NTT’s Carlos Barbero

Stage 4. Garray. Numancia > Ejea de los Caballeros – 191,7km
After three explosive stages dominated by Primoz Roglic, Marc Soler and Dan Martin, is it time for the sprinters to shine? They’ll find a mostly flat route today from Garray.Numancia to Ejea de los Caballeros.

Fernando Escartín’s Comment: “Completely flat stage, expected to end in a bunch sprint to the finish-line (one of the few in La Vuelta 20). We will have to keep a close eye on the wind, as it could cause problems in the Cinco Villas area.”

Stage 4 start from Garray. Numancia

The Vuelta started stage 4 without two riders. Daniel Felipe Martínez and Simon Geschke did not sign on. From the start four riders attacked: Luis Angel Maté (Cofidis) and Harry Tanfield (AG2R-La Mondiale) were joined by the Burgos-BH duo and Willie Smit and Jesus Ezquerra. The four raced a maximum lead of 4 minutes.

Autumn colours for la Vuelta

On the long, wide roads through Aragón, the pace suddenly increased halfway through the stage and the peloton was in a long line. The lead disappeared fast from then on. The peloton pulled the break back to half a minute, but the chaotic phase turned out to be short-lived.

The early break of the day: Willie Smit, Jesus Ezquerra, Harry Tanfield and Luis Angel Mate

The lead would gradually increase to more than 2 minutes, but the four in the front would fail to stay ahead in the finalé of the stage. After the intermediate sprint won by Tanfield, the leading group exploded, after which Smit was caught by the peloton as the last break rider, fifteen kilometres from the finish line.

The peloton was expecting echelons

Roglič lead was never in trouble

The final had the characteristic spectacle in which the sprint trains formed. Three kilometres from the finish, Deceuninck – Quick-Step took control. Jasper Philipsen started the sprint from afar and immediately took a few bike lengths in the descending finish straight. Bennett, however, countered strongly and came past with lengths to spare. This is his third stage victory in the Vuelta a España.

The big sprint

Stage winner, Sam Bennett (Deceuninck – Quick-Step): “It was so fast in the run-in! And it was fast all day and a bit nervous. We said we needed to come together at one point and the team did the job perfectly. They came together when we needed to and even more than we asked to be. We only asked a few guys to be there and the whole team was there. I went for the outside and Jasper Philipsen came up the inside and got such a jump I actually didn’t think I was gonna be able to catch him. But in the end I started getting more and more speed and I was still accelerating to the line. I had the power but he was so explosive out of the corner and I didn’t know if I would catch him.”

Just like the Tour – Sam Bennett 1st

Overall leader, Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma): “It was tailwind in the beginning so the pace was very high. It was mostly nervous in the final 20km, it went very fast but the team protected me well. It might look like an easier stage regarding watts but you really need to be focus and to be positioned at the front of the peloton as much as possible, you can’t relax.”

 

# Keep it PEZ to Madrid. #

Vuelta a España Stage 4 Result:
1. Sam Bennett (Irl) Deceuninck – Quick-Step in 3:53:29
2. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates
3. Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC
4. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) BORA-hansgrohe
5. Gerben Thijssen (Bel) Lotto Soudal
6. Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
7. Max Kanter (Ger) Sunweb
8. Mihkel Räim (Est) Israel Start-Up Nation
9. Emmanuel Morin (Fra) Cofidis
10. Magnus Cort (Den) EF Pro Cycling
11. Jon Aberasturi Izaga (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
12. Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling
13. Dion Smith (NZ) Mitchelton-Scott
14. Lorrenzo Manzin (Fra) Total Direct Energie
15. Alex Molenaar (Ned) Burgos-BH
16. Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) CCC
17. Rui Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates
18. Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck – Quick-Step
19. Primoz Roglic (Slov) Jumbo-Visma
20. Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo-Visma
21. Felix Grossschartner (Aut) BORA-hansgrohe
22. Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck – Quick-Step
23. Fred Wright (GB) Bahrain-McLaren
24. Koen De Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
25. Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R-La Mondiale.

Vuelta a España Overall After Stage 4:
1. Primož Roglič (Slov) Jumbo-Visma in 16:30:53
2. Dan Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation at 0:05
3. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) INEOS Grenadiers at 0:13
4. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar at 0:32
5. Hugh Carthy (GB) EF Pro Cycling at 0:38
6. Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo-Visma at 0:44
7. Felix Großschartner (Aut) BORA-hansgrohe at 1:17
8. Esteban Chaves (Col) Mitchelton-Scott at 1:29
9. Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar at 1:55
10. George Bennett (NZ) Jumbo-Visma at 1:57
11. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar at 2:08
12. David De la Cruz Melgarejo (Spa) UAE Team Emirates at 2:31
13. Mikel Nieve Iturralde (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott at 2:53
14. Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo at 2:55
15. Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Deceuninck – Quick-Step at 2:58
16. Davide Formolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates at 3:05
17. Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain-McLaren at 3:13
18. Gino Mäder (Swi) NTT Pro Cycling at 3:31
19. Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana at 3:37
20. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ at 4:00
21. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck – Quick-Step at4:16
22. Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) UAE Team Emirates at 4:41
23. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana at 5:42
24. Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana at 7:17
25. Ivan Ramiro Sosa Cuervo (Col) INEOS Grenadiers at 8:35.