Fabio Jakobsen outsprinted Sam Bennett to win the 175.5km fourth stage of the Vuelta a España that finished in El Puig today. It was Jakobsen’s first stage victory in a Grand Tour.
Bennett made his way to Jakobsen’s wheel as the Dutchman launched his sprint with less than a kilometre to go, but the Irishman fell just millimetres short of crossing the line first.
German Maximilian Walscheid (Team Sunweb) settled for third.
“I knew when I saw the guys from the team cheering. I threw the bike for the line and I couldn’t see because I closed my eyes and Sam was close to me,” said Jakobsen.
“Yesterday it didn’t work out. I was disappointed, the whole team was disappointed. We wanted to come back today to show we’re a strong team. We did a perfect lead-out. When it was my time I went, and we went full for the line.”
Earlier, Jelle Wallays (Lotto Soudal) and Jorge Cubero (Burgos-BH) attacked almost as soon as the flag dropped and dragged their maximum lead over the peloton out to seven minutes.
Wallays was left on his own when Cubero suffered a mechanical issue and lost contact with him with 32km to the finish.
The lone escapee then had a lead of 36 seconds over Cubero and one minute and 10 seconds over the peloton. Cubero was caught by the peloton 2km later.
Wallays battled to maintain his buffer but was eventually also caught by the peloton with 18km remaining.
With 5.5km to the line Remi Cavaga (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) opened a small gap over the peloton. But he was caught just shy of the flamme rouge before Jakobsen launched his sprint.
Ireland’s Nicolas Roche (Sunweb) retained the red jersey, just two seconds ahead of Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar).
Fabio Jakobsen won stage four of the Vuelta a España that finished in El Puig today. Photo: Unipublic/Photogomez Sport
View the results below.
Stage four results
1. Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck-Quick-Step 4:04:16
2. Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
3. Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb
4. Fernando Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates
5. Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott
6. Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
7. Szymon Sajnok (Pol) CCC Team
8. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
9. Jon Aberasturi Izaga (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
10. Juan Sebastian Molano (Col) UAE Team Emirates
*Selected
17. Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data
61. Willie Smit (RSA) Katusha-Alpecin
80. Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
145. Louis Meintjes (RSA) Dimension Data
General classification
1. Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sunweb 13:55:30
2. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team +0:00:02
3. Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First +0:00:08
4. Mikel Nieve (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott +0:00:22
5. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team +0:00:33
6. Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma +0:00:35
7. Sergio Andres Higuita Garcia (Col) EF Education First +0:00:37
8. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb +0:00:38
9. Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe +0:00:46
10. Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
*Selected
54. Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data +0:04:00
58. Louis Meintjes (RSA) Dimension Data +0:06:17
145. Willie Smit (RSA) Katusha-Alpecin +0:18:39
155. Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data +0:21:57
