Vuelta a Espana: Atapuma Takes the Red Jersey

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BMC’s Darwin Atapuma rides into the leader’s jersey on stage 4 of the Vuelta a Espana after finishing in second place

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Vuelta a Espana: Atapuma Takes the Red Jersey

BMC’s Darwin Atapuma rides into the leader’s jersey on stage 4 of the Vuelta a Espana after finishing in second place. Atapuma, who is leading a Grand Tour for the first time in his career, formed part of a 21-rider breakaway that went clear after more than an hour of racing.

The breakaway gained a five-minute lead and managed to hold their advantage with 30km to go to give the group a solid chance of making it to the line. The attacks from the breakaway started with 20km to go, during which time Atapuma rode at his own rhythm to stay in the main breakaway group.

Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie) launched the winning solo move with 9km to go on the last climb, the Mirador de Veixia, and behind Atapuma attacked to distance himself from the breakaway and bring himself closer to the red jersey. Atapuma had the legs to hold off the General Classification contenders’ group and power to second place, to now lead the General Classification by 29 seconds going into stage 5. … continued after advert

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Darwin Atapuma: “It is the best day of my cycling career to now have the red jersey at the Vuelta a Espana. This morning I was thinking to go in the breakaway and it was also the plan from the sports directors. There were a lot of breakaway attempts in the first 50km of racing but the peloton wasn’t letting them get away. I had to look at what the right composition for the breakaway, and I managed to jump in the right one that the peloton allowed to go clear. We had a good advantage in the end with a strong group of 21 riders.”

“I was feeling really confident in the breakaway because my shape after the Tour of Utah is really good. I was also feeling confident because of the uphill finish and when I looked around at the others in the breakaway I could see that they were suffering a lot more than me. I felt good so I knew that I could try something on the last climb. We arrived at the last climb with a three-minute advantage and it was then that I could start dreaming about taking the red jersey, as it was a realistic possibility. In the last 5km I knew the GC group was riding really fast so I didn’t know if I could get the jersey, so then I attacked to try and win the stage. In the end I was second on the stage but I took the red jersey which is a dream.”

“I think I can keep the jersey after tomorrow because it’s not a super hard stage, but to even wear the red jersey for one stage is incredible. I’ll take things day by day and continue to work to support the team’s ambitions.”

Chris Froome: Explaining the strong attack from team-mate Kennaugh on the final climb: “It was just to put a bit of pressure on the Movistar guys,” he said. “It was interesting to see the red jersey Fernandez got on the front there when Pete attacked and did his pull. It’s good for us to have (Pete) up there. He’s still in the top 10 on GC, so we’ve got myself, Pete and Leo in there”.

“(Movistar) are playing quite a tactical game at the moment. They seemed quite happy to let the red jersey go today. They weren’t in any kind of hurry to bring the break back, even though they had all nine riders there coming into the final. I think they are trying to save their legs a bit thinking about the next few weeks. I think we’re in a pretty good position. We’d prefer to just save a bit for the last half of the race.”

Alejandro Valverde: “Conceding the GC lead was written down on our plan for the day. The Vuelta is still four days old, and we knew that such a big break should be sticking. The leader’s jersey can weigh a lot, even more so when you try to carry it all the way to Madrid.”

“The important thing for us is that all GC contenders came together at the finish and both my legs and Nairo’s felt well – the day’s overview is overall positive. Rubén? Well, as everyone could see, he worked for us again today even in the lead. Just like the other team-mates, he was fantastic. We remain happy about his effort in Ézaro and I’m sure he enjoyed his day in red much. We will all have many days ahead to keep chasing glory and stages.”

Nairo Quintana: “It was a tough one. We thought things would be easier, considering the route was lumpy from the very start, not inviting any big moves. However, the pace was furious from the bang, and it took long to form the day’s break. That made things difficult. Hopefully we’ll have the next few days to recover and start thinking about the next ‘long weekend’, with three new mountain stages to come there.”

Alberto Contador: “The final climb was made complicated by the wind that was blowing hard and although I felt my form well I wouldn’t say it was perfect,” explained Alberto after the finish. “However, it is important to recover and keep putting efforts in.

“The next important day is stage 8 with its very demanding finish. Our bodies will be more into race mode and we will see there how my legs respond. I came to the Vuelta without an optimal preparation because I didn’t have enough time, but I feel confident that in the coming days I will be able to give more.”

Stage
1 CALMEJANE Lilian DIRECT ENERGIE 04h 05′ 19”
2 ATAPUMA Darwin BMC RACING TEAM + 00′ 15”
3 KING Benjamin CANNONDALE-DRAPAC PRO CYCLING TEAM + 00′ 15”
4 ZEITS Andrey ASTANA PRO TEAM + 00′ 18”
5 HAAS Nathan DIMENSION DATA + 00′ 23”
6 BATTAGLIN Enrico LOTTO NL -JUMBO + 00′ 24”
7 ROLLAND Pierre CANNONDALE-DRAPAC PRO CYCLING TEAM + 00′ 32”
8 HAGA Chad TEAM GIANT ALPECIN + 00′ 36”
9 ROSON Jaime CAJA RURAL – SEGUROS RGA + 00′ 39”
10 BENEDETTI Cesare BORA-ARGON 18 + 00′ 41”
11 WARBASSE Larry IAM CYCLING + 00′ 41”
12 MADRAZO Angel CAJA RURAL – SEGUROS RGA + 00′ 45”
13 KUDUS Merhawi DIMENSION DATA + 00′ 48”
14 WYSS Marcel IAM CYCLING + 00′ 54”
15 ROSSETTO Stéphane COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS + 01′ 03”
16 STYBAR Zdenek ETIXX – QUICK STEP + 01′ 34”
17 THWAITES Scott BORA-ARGON 18 + 01′ 37”
18 DE GENDT Thomas LOTTO SOUDAL + 01′ 37”
19 GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam LAMPRE – MERIDA + 01′ 41”
20 VALVERDE Alejandro MOVISTAR TEAM + 02′ 05”
21 CHAVES Johan Esteban ORICA BIKEEXCHANGE + 02′ 05”
22 FROOME Christopher TEAM SKY + 02′ 05”
23 CONTADOR Alberto TINKOFF + 02′ 05”
34 KENNAUGH Peter TEAM SKY + 02′ 11”
40 YATES Simon ORICA BIKEEXCHANGE + 02′ 28”
162 CARTHY Hugh CAJA RURAL – SEGUROS RGA + 14′ 53”

GC
1 ATAPUMA Darwin BMC RACING TEAM 13h 23′ 10”
2 VALVERDE Alejandro MOVISTAR TEAM + 00′ 28”
3 FROOME Christopher TEAM SKY + 00′ 32”
4 CHAVES Johan Esteban ORICA BIKEEXCHANGE + 00′ 38”
5 QUINTANA Nairo MOVISTAR TEAM + 00′ 38”
6 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ Samuel BMC RACING TEAM + 01′ 07”
7 FERNANDEZ ANDUJAR Ruben MOVISTAR TEAM + 01′ 10”
8 KONIG Leopold TEAM SKY + 01′ 12”
9 KENNAUGH Peter TEAM SKY + 01′ 14”
10 BRAMBILLA Gianluca ETIXX – QUICK STEP + 01′ 22”
11 CALMEJANE Lilian DIRECT ENERGIE + 01′ 24”
12 MORENO FERNANDEZ Daniel MOVISTAR TEAM + 01′ 35”
13 CONTADOR Alberto TINKOFF + 01′ 52”
14 DE LA CRUZ David ETIXX – QUICK STEP + 01′ 55”
15 YATES Simon ORICA BIKEEXCHANGE + 02′ 07”
16 WYSS Marcel IAM CYCLING + 02′ 07”
17 TALANSKY Andrew CANNONDALE-DRAPAC PRO CYCLING TEAM + 02′ 13”
18 SCARPONI Michele ASTANA PRO TEAM + 02′ 17”
19 HERMANS Ben BMC RACING TEAM + 02′ 27”
20 FORMOLO Davide CANNONDALE-DRAPAC PRO CYCLING TEAM + 02′ 34”

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