Four stages into his first Vuelta – and his first Grand Tour ever! – his first season as a pro! – Direct Energie’s Lilian Calmejane held off the stealthy speed of Darwin Atapuma (BMC) to take a solo summit victory on the Alto Mirador de Veixia. Third place went to the green-argyle clad figure of Cannondale-Drapac’s Ben King. Atapuma’s chase might have come up short for a stage win but it landed him a bigger prize – the leader’s jersey. The main GC contenders all finished together.

Rider of the race

Just as Atapuma couldn’t deny Calmejane his maiden GT stage win, I cannot deny the Angry Cat rider his day in the VeloVoices sun. After spending much of the day in a 21-man break, the French rider stayed alert on the last climb and took his chance to go clear 9km from the finish. With Atapuma springing into action in order to try to stave off a Movistar-driven peloton, Calmejane might have looked back and lost heart, but NO! He kept his cool and took a fine solo victory – the first of many we hope.

Stage results

1 Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie) 4:05:19

2 Darwin Atapuma (BMC) +0:15

3 Ben King (Cannondale-Drapac) +0:15

4 Andrey Zeits (Astana) +0:19

5 Nathan Haas (Team Dimension Data) +0:23

GC

1 Darwin Atapuma (BMC) 13:23:10

2 Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) +0:29

3 Chris Froome (SKY) +0:33

4 Esteban Chaves (Orica-BikeExchange) +0:39

5  Nairo Quintana (Movistar) same time

Jerseys

Points leader:Alexandre Geniez (FDJ)

King of the Mountains leader: Alexandre Geniez (FDJ)

Combined classification leader: Darwin Atapuma (BMC)

Team classification leader: Movistar

Stage’s Most Combative Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal)

For full stage review: Cycling News

Header image: A kiss for stage winner Lilian Calmejane (©Jaime Reina / GETTY Images)