The fourth stage in the Giro d’Italia was won by Arnaud Démare. In the bunch sprint he was just ahead of Peter Sagan and Davide Ballerini.
There was a short stage of 140 kilometers on the program today. The profile had a flat start, with a high peak in the middle of the course. There the sixteen kilometer climb of the Portella Mandrazzi ended, which had an average gradient of 4.5 percent. In the last 65 kilometers it was descending and driving towards the coast.
Immediately after the neutralization, Kamil Gradek, Simon Pellaud and Marco Fverslagi went on an adventure. They were given a maximum of four minutes, but Groupama-FDJ did not allow them any more. In the peloton it was slow, until the intermediate sprint. There, Fernando Gaviria, Michael Matthews, Sagan and Diego Ulissi threw their plans on the table. They also crossed the line in that order.
Sprinters resolve on any climb of the day
After that it was time to climb. In the peloton, BORA-hansgrohe seized the opportunity to try to get rid of the pure sprinters. All of Sagan’s mates took place at the head of the pack. Elia Viviani, Rudy Barbier and Fernando Gaviria soon had to give up their place in the peloton, but Arnaud Démare kept pedaling to the top. There, Vincenzo Nibali’s team took the lead, to lead the peloton safely down in the rain. That was necessary, as the image below makes clear.
In that descent, which was very confusing, some cracks appeared in the peloton. Downstairs we had to see which riders were still in the peloton. BORA-hansgrohe continued to drive ahead of Sagan, but Démare was also still on it. Although the Frenchman seemed to have suffered more on the climb than the Slovak. In the chase, the released riders tried to return, which Cofidis and leader Viviani succeeded.
Pellaud caught, sprinters to move
When the peloton got bigger again and it was only a matter of waiting to see if Gaviria would return, it was still just over twenty kilometers to the finish. That was also the moment that the last fugitive, Pellaud, was captured by BORA-hansgrohe. After that, Groupama-FDJ also came forward to put leader Démare in position for the bunch sprint. In the meantime João Almeida defended his pink jersey by finishing second in the intermediate sprint.
At fifteen kilometers from the finish, BORA-hansgrohe and Groupama-FDJ continued to pound, as Gaviria and his team were within 30 seconds of the peloton. The train of UAE Team Emirates slowly burned out and unfortunately for the Colombian he did not get his first sprint chance. This seemed to be the best papers for Démare, with Sagan, Matthews, Viviani and Davide Ballerini as the biggest challengers.
First bunch sprint Giro d’Italia
In the last five kilometers, all sprinters were brought forward. Behind Bora-hansgrohe and Groupama-FDJ, we also saw the teams Cofidis (Viviani) and Israel Start-Up Nation, who had several irons in the fire. In the winding finale, the riders had to pound the wind. At 300 meters, Sagan was the first, Démare quickly went wide, but only managed to pass the Slovak in the last meters. Davide Ballerini was on the finish photo, but finished third on behalf of Deceuninck – Quick-Step. (Photo: Sirotti)
Result stage 4 Giro d’Italia
1. Arnaud Démare
2. Peter Sagan “
3. Davide Ballerini “
4. Andrea Vendrame “
5. Elia Viviani “
6. Stefano Oldani “
7. Davide Cimolai “
8 Michael Matthews “
9. Filippo Fiorelli “
10. Enrico Battaglin “
GC after stage 4 Giro d’Italia
1. João Almeida
2. Jonathan Caicedo +0.02
3. Pello Bilbao +0.39
4. Wilco Kelderman +0.44
5. Harm Vanhoucke +0.55
6. Vincenzo Nibali +0.57
7. Domenico Pozzovivo +1.01
8. Brandon McNulty +1.13
9. Jakob Fuglsang +1.15
10. Steven Kruijswijk +1.17
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