Report: Vuelta Stage 4

Matteo Trentin wins the bunch kick to make a perfect set of stage wins in all three grand tours, Chris Froome continues to lead the chase for the Overall

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Report: Vuelta Stage 4

Quickstep Press Release

Matteo Trentin makes history at the Vuelta a España – The Italian earned a place in the history books as the 100th rider to win stages in all Grand Tours

Quick-Step Floors is on a roll at the Vuelta a España, where our team has just nabbed another stage victory, number 12 this season in a Grand Tour, a performance last attained by a squad seven years ago. After Yves Lampaert kicked off things on the second day with a beautiful solo attack in the last kilometer, it was now the turn of Matteo Trentin to finish it off and score his first World Tour victory of the season.

The day was one for the sprinters, with only a third-category climb on the course, which didn’t pose any problem to the peloton led by Quick-Step Floors’ Tim Declercq, who controlled the gap of the four-man break and made sure it didn’t go north of six minutes. Once Tim’s job was done, Bob Jungels and Niki Terpstra took over in the last ten kilometers and reeled in the last two escapees, before shutting down a late attack.

Julian Alaphilippe – a Vuelta a España debutant – then came at the head of affairs and stretched out the peloton with two kilometers remaining with a nervous tempo that didn’t allow other teams to come around and master the finale. Yves Lampaert was the last man in front of Matteo, and the Belgian made sure of pumping in the watts and keeping his Italian teammate on his wheel as he negotiated the tricky and technical final meters, before Trentin opened his sprint and emphatically powered to the line, beating Juan Jose Lobato (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Tom Van Asbroeck (Cannondale-Drapac) by several bike lengths.

After catching his breath, an ecstatic Matteo took us through the final kilometers of the stage: “We took responsibility again today and did the bulk of the work for most of the stage. Tim chased down the breakaway, then Bob and Niki protected me, while Julian and Yves brought me in a great position. I knew the last kilometer was a technical one, with several tight bends, but wasn’t worried at all about it, as I had Yves with me, who showed two days ago how good he is in such a situation. I am really happy I could repay all my teammates for their hard work and come out on top here.”

Matteo’s victory in Tarragona, where the Vuelta a España returned after four years, saw the 28-year-old set a remarkable milestone, as he joined the select club of riders with stage wins in all Grand Tours, becoming the 100th man in history to achieve this remarkable performance.

“It’s a wonderful feeling to have victories in all Grand Tours. I’m very proud to have done this in the jersey of Quick-Step Floors; I came here for a stage win and I’m delighted to get it so early in the race. We’re having a great Vuelta, everyone on the team is giving 100% in the race and we hope to enjoy many other fantastic moments in the next stages”, said Matteo – the new points classification leader – whose all Grand Tour victories came in Lyon, Nancy, Pinerolo and Tarragona, all towns with a strong Roman heritage.

Other Reactions

Chris Froome (Team Sky) “I was definitely afraid of some time splits, especially with a very tricky final like today. It was worth staying up there and spend a bit of energy. Obviously my team-mates did a massive job to keep me up there. I had a good day. It was a great feeling to be back in red after six years. It’s a huge huge privilege to be in this position … I’m just enjoying to be in the red jersey today.”

Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors): “It was a pretty hard stage, with headwind all the time. It looked flat on map, but it wasn’t really. We followed our plan. We had to pull a bit earlier than planned with Niki [Terpstra] and me. But we caught the break and with a finish like this, with all the corners, we know Matteo [Trentin] is super-strong. He had the confidence of the team and he delivered perfectly. I had a pretty tough day yesterday with the heat. I’m very happy with my shape, actually. I’m not here for the general classification so it’s not a big problem that I lost time yesterday.”

Juan José Lobato (Team LottoNL-Jumbo) “The important thing is to be back at the front. I’m obviously not happy with finishing second but I’m happy with my sensations. I was at the same level as Matteo Trentin when we got out of the last curve – I should have waited for him to launch the sprint.

“I hope I’ll be able to put another hard fight and maybe win myself. I never stopped believing in myself. I’ve worked well, for the whole year but especially this past month, going to altitude in Andorra, and I want to prove it here.”

Edward Theuns (Trek Segafredo) “It’s not bad, but if you are going for the win than 4th is not good,” said a disappointed Theuns. “Again, like the last sprint, it was tricky. I don’t understand why they put a roundabout with 300 meters to go; it’s just dangerous,” he added about the technical ending. “I was feeling really good today, but it’s not easy against other sprinters who have 4 or 5 guys in front of them. I had to use a lot of power a couple of times to go back to the front. I still did a fast sprint, but in the end, I was a little too far back in the last corner, and then it’s not easy to gain places back,” he explained.

“There are still some stages where I can do something. If it’s possible later to have at least one guy to put me out of the wind, maybe we can have a victory,” he added. “I will go as easy as I can in the mountain stages to save power, and then we will see.”

Alberto Contador: “Yesterday was something very strange, I had something wrong with digestion and I did not feel good at all,” explained Contador. “Obviously that was not my place, but now we have to see how many days it will take to fully recover from this, and see what we can do in the remainder of the race.

“Today was a transition day but it was very nervous in the finish part with a lot of turns and you had to be very attentive. Thankfully I already felt much better and the team helped me to be well-placed. Today was not difficult and did not take a lot of effort and that was helpful. We will go day by day, and I hope to be back to the same feeling that I had at the start of the race, but we will see tomorrow.”

Sacha Modolo (UAE Emirates): “I did my best to be in the right position of the group in preparation for the sprint but I spent so much energy with 2 km to go and I was too far behind. Although I was fifth at the last roundabout, my legs didn’t have enough power to sprint for the win.”

Adam Yates: Finishing safely in the bunch and maintaining his position on the general classification also saw Adam Yates retain the best young rider competition for another day. “It’s still early days, but so far I’m feeling good,” Yates said. “Obviously I lost a little bit of time yesterday but as a team we have Esteban up there and as long as one of us finish as close to the podium as possible, it’s a successful race for us.”

“We have more cards to play than other teams. There’s three of us within reach and we can have numbers to play with in the final week.”

Nicolas Roche (BMC), 3rd on GC: “Today was all about going through the day. After the first few days, I know it sounds strange, but I was good to try and recover as much as we can. The team did a great job to protect Tejay (Van Garderen) and myself through the whole stage and make sure we stay out of trouble as it was a very technical finish. Tomorrow’s gonna be another very demanding stage. It’s gonna be another GC day for Tejay and myself to hang on as much as we can.”

Davide Villella: (Cannondale Drapac) “It was a nice feeling to wear the jersey (KoM) today,” said Villella. “It was a really nice experience to have a leader’s jersey in a Grand Tour, whether for one day or more days.” The Vuelta a España continues on Wednesday with a hilly 175-kilometer stage that travels from Benicàssim to Alcossebre. En route, the peloton will tackle three category two climbs and two category three climbs. “It wasn’t stressful to keep the jersey today,” said Villella. “There was only the third category mountain. Tomorrow will be more interesting as the stage will have more points to win.”

Tom Van Asbroeck (Cannondale Drapac) “The stage was really easy for me,” said Van Asbroeck. “I had the support and trust of the entire team, and I felt it! Everyone’s efforts led to this result. The climbers took care of providing drink bottles and food the entire day, and the rest did the lead-out in the final. The teamwork that I’m experiencing this Vuelta is unique. It’s a really tight group. We’d ride through fire for each other.”

“This result means so much to me,” said Van Asbroeck. “It shows that the Tom Van Asbroeck of 2014 is back. I lost him for two years. I have some people to thank for this, most of all my wife. But also Sep and Ken Vanmarcke, and Cannondale-Drapac, who have believed in me and supported me in getting here. I can’t thank them enough. And of course the guys who helped me achieve this result today: Will, Tom, Toms, Simon, Brendan, Davide, Joe and Woods. Thanks boys!”

Tom Scully: (Cannondale Drapac)  “Will Clarke did a really strong job positioning in the last 40 kilometers and then Simon Clarke did a big burner to keep us there in the last five kilometers,” said Tom Scully. “Coming through the final kilometer, I was lead-out, drop off, positioning for Tom. I knew how technical the last kilometer was, and I thought it was important to be at the front at the right moment.

“We took the last few lefts and rights, and it was time to open the sprint in the last 300 meters,” Scully continued. “I dropped my chain in sight of the line, which was a little frustrating. All I could do was get out of the way for Tom.”

Stage Five plays host to the first’s real summit finish of the Tour and is naturally suited to the climbing specialist. With four categorised climbs throughout the 157.7km route, riders will take in the orange groves of Benicassim before heading inland for a tour of the municipality of Valencia and towns including; Albocàsser, Sarratella and Els Ibarsos. The final climb to Ermita Santa Lucia near Alcossebre averages a 9.7% incline and peaks at 20%.

Last Kilometre …. Fernando Escartín: Mid-moutain, with an uphill finale. The terrain will be a “leg-breaker” from the beginning. The climbs will not be excessively difficult, but they will wear down the peloton so that the first uphill finish at the Ermita de Santa Lucía, will be a spectacular one. It will be a battle to the end and the 2nd category climb at Serratella will be a decisive one, though differences among the strongest riders will be minimal.

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Stage 4
1. Matteo Trentin Trentin Quick-Step Floors
2. Juan José Lobato Team LottoNL-Jumbo
3. Tom Van Asbroeck Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team
4. Edward Theuns Trek – Segafredo
5. Jens Debusschere Lotto Soudal
6. Sacha Modolo UAE Team Emirates
7. Lorrenzo Manzin FDJ
8. Søren Andersen Team Sunweb
9. Youcef Reguigui Dimension Data
10. Jetse Bol Manzana Postobon

15. Adam Blythe Aqua Blue Sport
17. Chris Froome Team Sky
18. Fabio Aru Astana Pro Team
24. Esteban Chaves ORICA-Scott
25. Romain Bardet AG2R La Mondiale
26. Warren Barguil Team Sunweb
27. Vincenzo Nibali Bahrain Merida
35. Alberto Contador Trek – Segafredo,,
48. Adam Yates ORICA-Scott
50. Simon Yates ORICA-Scott
87. Thomas Scully Cannondale-Drapac
105. Ian Stannard Team Sky

GC Contenders so far
1. Chris Froome Team Sky2013:37:41
2. David de la Cruz Quick-Step Floors 0:02
3. Nicolas Roche BMC Racing Team
4. Tejay van Garderen BMC Racing Team
5. Vincenzo Nibali Bahrain Merida 0:10
6. Esteban Chaves ORICA-Scott 0:11
7. Fabio Aru Astana Pro Team 0:38
8. Adam Yates ORICA-Scott 0:39
9. Romain Bardet AG2R La Mondiale 0:48
10. Simon Yates ORICA-Scott
11. Michael Woods Cannondale-Drapac 1:13
12. Wilco Kelderman Team Sunweb 1:17
13. Warren Barguil Team Sunweb 1:22
14. Ilnur Zakarin Team Katusha – Alpecin 1:29
15. Sam Oomen Team Sunweb 1:32
16. Carlos Betancur Movistar Team 1:35
17. Igor Anton Dimension Data
18. Louis Meintjes UAE Team Emirates 1:43
19. Wout Poels Team Sky 1:44
20. Luis Leon Sanchez Astana Pro Team 1:52
21. Nelson Oliveira Movistar Team 1:54
22. Steven Kruijswijk Team LottoNL-Jumbo 1:56
23. Miguel López Astana Pro Team 1:57
24. Rui Costa UAE Team Emirates 1:58
25. Jack Haig ORICA-Scott
26. Jaime Roson Caja Rural – Seguros RGA 2:37
27. Daniel Moreno Movistar Team 2:58
28. Alberto Contador Trek – Segafredo 3:10
29. Peter Stetina Trek – Segafredo
30. Jan Polanc UAE Team Emirates

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