Sam Bennett sprinted to victory on the fourth stage of the Vuelta a Espana today. Photo: Photogomez Sport
Deceuninck-Quick-Step’s Sam Bennett came from behind to claim the fourth stage of the Vuelta a Espana in a thrilling sprint finish in Ejea de los Caballeros today.
With less than a hundred metres of the 191.7km stage to go, the Tour de France green jersey winner’s chances of winning the race’s first sprint stage seemed to be dwindling as there was still daylight between him and UAE Team Emirates’ Jasper Philipsen, who led out the sprint.
The Irishman however found another gear as Philipsen started to fade and eventually won by almost a bike-length.
Philipsen took advantage of the inside line at the tight left-hand turn into the home straight to steal a march on the Deceuninck-Quick-Step train, which had dragged the peloton to the finish at over 60 kilometres per hour over the closing kilometres in service of Bennet.
The latter seemingly did not panic and waited until the last possible moment to surge towards and then past Philipsen.
Team CCC’s Jakub Mareczko placed third.
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg (NTT) was the first South African to cross the line in 12th.
“Philipsen came up the inside and got such a jump that I didn’t really think I’d catch him but towards the end I started getting more and more speed and I was still accelerating towards the line,” said Bennett.
“When he initially went he was so explosive around the corner, I didn’t know if I could catch him.”
Primoz Roglic retained the red jersey ahead of Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) on a super fast day that saw little change in the general classification. The Slovenian is also the owner of the green points jersey.
Richard Carapaz (Ineos), third overall, leads the king of the mountains classification.
Stage four results:
| 1 | Sam Bennett | IRL | Deceuninck - Quick Step | 3:53:29 |
| 2 | Jasper Philipsen | BEL | UAE-Team Emirates | |
| 3 | Jakub Mareczko | ITA | CCC Team | |
| 4 | Pascal Ackermann | GER | Bora-hansgrohe | |
| 5 | Gerben Thijssen | BEL | Lotto Soudal | |
| 6 | Matteo Moschetti | ITA | Trek-Segafredo | |
| 7 | Max Kanter | GER | Team Sunweb | |
| 8 | Mihkel Raim | EST | Israel Start-Up Nation | |
| 9 | Emmanuel Morin | FRA | Cofidis | |
| 10 | Magnus Cort | DEN | EF Pro Cycling |
*Selected
| 12 | Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg | RSA | NTT Pro Cycling | |
| 82 | Nic Dlamini | RSA | NTT Pro Cycling | |
| 86 | Stefan de Bod | RSA | NTT Pro Cycling | |
| 165 | Willie Smit | RSA | Burgos-BH | +2:06 |
General classification
| 1 | Primož Roglic | SLV | Team Jumbo Visma | 16:30:53 |
| 2 | Dan Martin | IRL | Israel Start-Up Nation | +0:05 |
| 3 | Richard Carapez | ECU | Ineos Grenadiers | +0:13 |
| 4 | Enric Mas | ESP | Team Movistar | +0:32 |
| 5 | Hugh Carthy | GBR | EF Pro Cycling | +0:38 |
| 6 | Sepp Kuss | USA | Team Jumbo Visma | +0:44 |
| 7 | Felix Großschartner | AUS | BORA-honsgrohe | +1:17 |
| 8 | Esteban Chaves | COL | Mitchelton-Scott | +1:29 |
| 9 | Marc Soler | ESP | Team Movistar | +1:55 |
| 10 | George Bennet | NZL | Team Jumbo Visma | +1:57 |
*Selected
| 67 | Stefan de Bod | RSA | NTT Pro Cycling | +34:23 |
| 89 | Willie Smit | RSA | Burgos-BH | +39:59 |
| 103 | Nic Dlamini | RSA | NTT Pro Cycling | +42:34 |
| 114 | Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg | RSA | NTT Pro Cycling | +43:19 |
