Discover the Stage 4 highlights
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DeportesTranscripción
00:00After three days in Portugal, La Vuelta returns to Spain today.
00:06Yesterday, Wout van Aert took his first win in six months in the leaders red jersey, but
00:11the Belgian will switch to domestique mode on stage four as the GC contenders get set
00:16for the race's first summit finish on Pico Vizuercas.
00:23We have a good test today.
00:24I think we'll be able to see which riders are going to be fighting for overall victory.
00:29We're going into it with a lot of ambition and we hope to do the best possible job.
00:36Question marks around the form of Primoz Roglic after his crash at the Tour de France.
00:42I still feel the back, it's true, but I mean, so far so good, no?
00:47So yeah, we will see today on the first climbs, yes, when I really push it with the race,
00:53how I will react and how it will go.
00:55You need to have the legs there, it's just that.
00:59Plenty of eyes will also be on the defending champion Sepp Kuss, who won't be given the
01:03same freedom as last year.
01:05For sure, it's the first test.
01:07Now maybe they'll look at me a bit more if I try and go on the break.
01:11But no, for sure, there's a lot of teams here with multiple options.
01:17So with a uphill start today, it's also a tricky one for teams to possibly use those
01:24options.
01:26Jesus Herrada was second on the Vuelta Zoni previous visit to Pico Vuecas back in 2021,
01:32behind Romain Bardet but ahead of Jay Vine.
01:37I think it's a very hard climb.
01:39Last time we did it in the middle of the race and for the final climb we went up a different
01:43road.
01:44But I think it's going to be a nice day today, both for the stage win and for the GC contenders.
01:56There are four climbs scattered across today's 170km.
02:01Shortly after leaving Plasencia, the riders will tackle the Puerto de Cabeza Belosa and
02:07the Alto de Pional, but the fireworks will come on the final hike up Pico Vuecas.
02:12It is almost 15km at over 6%, with passages at up to 20%.
02:18After a couple of relaxed days, there was more intensity at the start today, with the
02:22average speed over 40kmh.
02:25Five men made the breakaway, and naturally, Escatelle Scardi and Kern Farmer were both
02:30represented by Mikel Biscara and Pablo Castrillo.
02:34The French time trial champion Bruno Amirai was also up there, with the former Italian
02:38champion Filippo Zanna.
02:39And finally, Sylvain Monniquet of Lotto Destiny, who was chasing polka dot points.
02:4515 over the first two climbs, making him the virtual king of the mountains.
02:51Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe were driving the peloton on behalf of Roglic, with the gap
02:55never exceeding three minutes.
02:57The temperature though was soaring to almost 40 degrees.
03:01At this point, Amirai was the virtual leader.
03:03The Frenchman's looked on form since joining Decathlon AG2R this year.
03:07He already spent five days in the breakaway at this summer's Tour de France.
03:17After a long run through the valley, the five leaders hit the penultimate climb, the
03:21Puerto de Miravete, 8km at 4.5%.
03:25They were still leading by a couple of minutes, with the GC teams just keeping the peloton
03:29rolling along.
03:31No major urgency for the time being.
03:32There was a bit more up at the front though, for the mountains points.
03:36Amirai first to the line this time, ahead of Zanna and Monniquet.
03:40With the riders heading into the final part of the stage, with Red Bull stepping on the
03:45gas again, Amirai decided it was time to go solo up at the front, although he was joined
03:50by Castrillo.
03:52The two men are working together and maintaining a two-minute gap, as the other three were
03:56caught by the bunch.
04:05Castrillo and Amirai reaching the intermediate sprint at the foot of the final climb, and
04:09there were still plenty of points available for the main green jersey contenders.
04:33Groves did get there just ahead of Van Aert, and that was game over for the two fast men,
04:38as the peloton embarked on the climb, and they soon had the two leaders in their sights.
04:46Castrillo and Amirai hitting the steepest sections, with UAE on the front of the GC
04:51group.
04:52Pavel Sivakov was the first man to make a move, and he quickly caught the two front
04:56men.
04:57Before being caught himself, it was time for the favourites to take centre stage.
05:05It was Felix Galle, the 26-year-old Austrian rider from Decathlon Egyptois on the Mondial
05:09team, who has just got a couple of bike lengths, there's been no reaction, and perhaps some
05:15of the big favourites in the GC don't really see Galle as a big threat.
05:21Behind Galle, things had really thinned out, with Roglic setting a high tempo.
05:25Only two riders could stay with the three-time winner, Henrik Maas, and the talented young
05:29Belgian Lennart van Eetveldt, winner of this year's UAE Tour.
05:34A slight lull allowed a second group to catch up, containing Almeida and the up-and-coming
05:38American Matthew Riccitello.
05:40Mikel Landa also fought his way back to the front, before unleashing with a couple of
05:45hundred metres to go.
05:49And the first person to blink, and it's Mikel Landa of T-Rex Quick-Step.
05:54It's the Spaniard, the 34-year-old, who's trying to go and take a stage victory in Luftwelter,
05:59but Lennart van Eetveldt of Lotto Destiny.
06:02He's already finished fifth in a bunch of sprints.
06:04He's got the speed, he's got the power, but he's going to be close on the line.
06:07And it's Primoz Roglic, who by the looks of things, has just taken that on the line.
06:13His 13th Vuelta a España stage victory.
06:18Well, there have been question marks over the form, but this was an emphatic response
06:22from Roglic, the Slovenian overhauling the impressive van Eetveldt to claim his 20th
06:27Grand Tour stage win.
06:28He also takes the race lead, but with that lingering back injury, how's he going to
06:33handle the pressure of wearing the red jersey?
06:37It was not actually the main objective of today, but yeah, when you see the guys riding
06:44hard in this heat, yeah, happy to finish top.
06:49I felt definitely the back already.
06:52Hopefully it doesn't go worse.
06:54So, yeah, I mean, the goal or, yeah, we'll keep the same just to go day by day.
07:02Roglic taking his 13th Vuelta stage win after a Red Bull masterclass with six riders on
07:07the same time.
07:08Van Eetveldt, Almeida, Mass, Gal, Riccitello and Landa.
07:13Roglic leads Almeida by eight seconds overall, with Mass at 32.
07:18Kurs already trails by a minute and 14, with Adam Yates at nearly two minutes.
07:25Van Aert and Groves are still neck and neck at the top of the green jersey standings,
07:28with the Belgian just six points clear of the Australian.
07:33Monacay is now the king of the mountains.
07:35He's on 16 points, followed by Zanna and Roglic.
07:42And Antonio Tiberi is the new leader of the youth classification by just three seconds
07:46from Van Eetveldt.
07:48The road flattens out again on stage five, with another day for the sprinters as we head
07:53to the Andalusian capital of Sevilla.
07:55Do join us then, and thanks for watching.