Stage 4 of the Tour of Spain ended as expected on Friday, with a massive sprint. In Ejea de los Caballeros, Ireland triumphed again thanks to Sam Bennett. The Groupama-FDJ’s leader David Gaudu meanwhile finished safely in the bunch after enjoying the great support of his teammates throughout the day, and especially in the wind.

After three fist stages for climbers, the Vuelta finally made some room for the sprinters on Friday. However, before the expected sprint finish, some 191 kilometers had to be covered, which made it the third longest stage on the 2020 Tour of Spain. Although four riders quickly took the lead to create the day’s breakaway, the bunch quickly increased its pace as well in order to control them from close. Willie Smit, Jesus Ezequerra (Burgos-BH), Harry Tanfield (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Luis Angel Maté (Cofidis) then never got more than a three-minute gap. Also, their attempt almost ended sooner than expected, halfway through the race, when the Movistar team tried to create some echelons on a long, exposed part of the route. David Gaudu was kept up front by his teammates, but the conditions did not prove sufficient anyway to split the peloton in pieces.

“A stressful day”, Thierry Bricaud

The bunch then calmed down for a bit, the leading quartet temporarily regained ground, but the sprinters’ teams obviously and eventually caught the last leaders with ten kilometers to go. Sam Bennett then won the sprint while the entire Groupama-FDJ team stayed slightly behind to avoid any accident. David Gaudu still finished in the winner’s time and remains 20th overall. “It was definitely not a transition day,” explained Thierry Bricaud at the finish. “It was an extremely fast and nervous day due to the risk of echelons. It was windy, so we had to be careful. That’s what they did perfectly again today. We know we can’t win in the sprint because we don’t have a sprinter, but we have to stay focused regardless so as not to waste time stupidly. It was a stressful day but it ended well for us. The team stayed very focused throughout the stage. We decided to ride for David and the whole group is really committed around him.”

From tomorrow, the French climber will find a more suitable terrain, with a second-category climb in the finale. However, the real challenge of the weekend will be in Formigal, on Sunday.

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