2017 Vuelta a España Stage 4: Another score for Quick Step

Matteo Trentin (Italy) gave his Quick Step squad another stage win of the 2017 Vuelta a España on Tuesday, two days after he was runner-up to teammate Yves Lampaert. Trentin, off to Orica-Scott next year, adds the triumph to a win earlier in the month at the Vuelta a Burgos. Chris Froome retained his red jersey.

Another victory for Quick-Step!! Trentin takes stage 4 #Lv2017 pic.twitter.com/BodN7054Mg

— Tour de France 2019 (@LeTour_19) August 22, 2017

The Course
The course’s profile descended steadily for 198-km from the start town of Escaldes-Engordany, with only a Cat. 3 bump in the middle of the course interrupting the trend. It was a hot day in Spain.

On paper, it should be a quiet stage today at #LV2017 (Escaldes-Engordany – Tarragona, 198.2km). Headwind expected in the last 80 km. pic.twitter.com/yYezdyHdY9

— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) August 22, 2017

The Breakaway
Straight away, a foursome dashed down the road and then waited for a fifth rider to join. After the first hour and 44-km, the gap was 5:15.

On the Cat. 3 climb, the breakaway shattered, and two riders carried on in front. Stéphane Rossetto (France/Cofidis) took the maximum points. Meanwhile, leadership in the peloton had gone from Sky to Aqua Blue, Lotto-Soudal and Quick Step.

#LV2017 Voyant le peloton revenir à 3', Stéphane Rossetto a relancé l'allure en tête de course. ? Seul Rubio a pu suivre notre coureur. pic.twitter.com/zrIzL9JsWc

— Team Cofidis (@TeamCOFIDIS) August 22, 2017

The Finale
Pressure mounted on the sprinters’ teams as the intrepid duo still had a 3:00 gap with 35-km to go. A crash took down Sunweb’s GC man Wilco Kelderman and he laboured to rejoin the field.

With 13-km remaining, the duo’s lead was 53-seconds, so the two riders started attacking one another. Their big day out came to an end with 7-km to go.

Positioning for the tight bend 300-metres from the line in Tarragona was going to be crucial. There was also plenty of roundabouts on the run-in. Once more, luck wasn’t on the side of Froome’s rivals, as Ilnur Zakarin needed a bike change.

Various attacks failed and no team could really grab the reins. In the finale, Trentin was third wheel and then followed LottoNL-Jumbo’s JJ Lobato, coming around the Spaniard on the left for the Grand Tour stage win hat trick.
https://twitter.com/wcstats/status/900020751314636800
Hugo Houle was top Canadian in 33rd.

Wednesday heads back into the mountains for the first summit finish, a 3.5-km, 10% knee-breaker.

2017 Vuelta a España Stage 4
1) Matteo Trentin (Italy/Quick Step) 4:43:57
2) JJ Lobato (Spain/LottoNL-Jumbo) s.t
3) Tom Van Asbroeck (Belgium/Cannondale) s.t
33) Hugo Houle (Canada/AG2R) s.t

2017 Vuelta a España GC
1) Chris Froome (Great Britain/Sky) 13:37:41
2) David de la Cruz (Spain/Quick Step) +0:02
3) Nicolas Roche (Ireland/BMC) s.t.
11) Michael Woods (Canada/Cannondale) +1:13