One last day in Sicily for this year’s Giro d’Italia and Arnaud Demare of Groupama-FDJ took the win. That was despite the best efforts of Peter Sagan’s Bora team to put the race beyond the legs of the sprinters. The Slovakian does have the consolation of slipping on the beautiful ciclamino jersey. Elsewhere, there were no big changes to the GC.
How the stage was won
After yesterday’s action and adventure, the Giro served up something more calming for stage 4. Lots of moody scenic shots from the helicopter and plenty of time to reflect on the events around Etna. But, every stage needs a winner and today gave the sprinters something to scrap for.
Bora drove the pace on the day’s only real climb, with the intention of losing as many pure sprinters as possible to give Peter Sagan the best chance of ciclamino points. Fernando Gaviria (UAE), Alvaro Hodeg (DQS), and Elia Viviani (Cofidis) were among those who found the shower power from Bora too hard to handle. Viviani managed to get back on for the finale, but the others were left dangling behind.
Bora wasn’t the only team in town though. Groupama-FDJ made sure Arnaud Demare was safely in the peloton and then took the sprint by the scruff of the neck.
A Sprint Beside the Seaside
The final kilometre, with its drizzle and grey sea view, felt more like the Tour of Britain than the Giro. The quality of the final sprint did nothing to add sparkle to the spectacle.
It was a messy sprint. So messy I could spend a lot of time describing the scraps and scrapes and bumps and jinks and still not nail what went down. So why not watch it and see…
Boy it was close….
Really close…
Even the winner thought it was really close…
Demare said:
I felt like it was Paris-Nice with the wind! I thought I was second, in the end I was the winner and it’s brilliant. It’s great to get an early win and we’ll get other chances. The legs are good.
Sagan, however, gets his maglia ciclamino. [Honestly, how can I get a set of Giro masks? The pink is great but this one is fabulous! – Ed]
G Goes Home
The big news of the morning wasn’t unexpected. Ineos Grenadier’s Geraint Thomas has had to pack up his giant white Oakleys and head home after additional scans showed a fractured pelvis from yesterday’s heavy crash in the neutralised zone.
At the end of today’s stage, two Vini Zabu riders appeared to get caught up in a collapsing barrier. One of them, Luca Wakermann, was taken to hospital afterwards.
Last Word
Results – stage 4
1 Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) 3:22:13
2 Peter Sagan (Bora-Triedbloodyhard) same time
3 Davide Ballerini (Deceuninck-HereComesTheQuicksteppers) s/t
4 Andrea Vendrame (AG2R WhoKnewTheyHadSprinters) s/t
5 Elia Viviani (Cofids ClosestYet) s/t
GC Top 10
1 Joao Almeida (Deceuninck QuickStep) 11:06:36
2 Jonathan Caicedo (EF Pro Cycling) +0:02
3 Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-McLaren) +0:39
4 Wilco Kelderman (Jumbo Visma) +0:44
5 Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal) +0:55
6 Vicenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo) +0:57
7 Domenico Pozzovivo (NTT Pro Cycling) +1:01
8 Brandon McNulty (UAE-Emirates) +1:13
9 Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) +1:15
10 Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo Visma) +1:17
All the Jerseys
Leader’s jersey Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep)
Points jersey Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe)
King of the Mountains Jonathan Caicedo (EF Pro Cycling)
Best Young Rider Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep)
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Official race website: Giro d’Italia
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