With his eyes closed, Fabio Jakobsen beat Sam Bennett in a photo finish to win the fourth stage of the Vuelta on Tuesday, while Nicolas Roche kept the overall lead.
Jakobsen fended off a strong charge by Bennett in the final meters of the 175-kilometer ride from Cullera to El Puig on Spain’s eastern coast.
”I couldn’t see because I closed my eyes, Sam was so close,” said Jakobsen. ”I went for the line and threw my bike. When I saw people from the team cheering I knew I had won. This is a big one.”
It was the first Grand Tour stage win for the Dutch rider from team Deceuninck-Quick-Step.
”To win in a Grand Tour is one of the things you dream of as a sprinter,” Jakobsen said. ”In my head I thought I could do it, but you never know for sure. To win a stage of La Vuelta wearing the colors of your country is amazing.”
”This one hurts a lot,” Bennett said. ”It was really hard to position myself in the final kilometers. On the last roundabout I lost many positions because I chose the wrong side. I really forced this one to happen but it just didn’t go as I hoped for.”
Roche finished safely in the peloton. He will carry a two-second lead over Quintana entering Wednesday’s fifth stage, which will take riders 170 kilometers (105 miles) from the city of L’Eliana to a finish by an astronomical observatory in Arcos de las Salinas.
Vuelta a Espana 2019 – stage 4 results (Cullera – El Puig):
| 1 | Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | 4:04:16 |
| 2 | Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 3 | Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 4 | Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 5 | Marc Sarreau (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
| 6 | Szymon Sajnok (CCC) | ,, |
| 7 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 8 | Ion Aberasturi (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) | ,, |
| 9 | Clement Venturini (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 10 | Maximiliano Richeze (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | ,, |
| 11 | Cyril Barthe (Euskadi-Murias) | ,, |
| 12 | Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 13 | Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Katusha-Alpecin) | ,, |
| 14 | Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 15 | Tosh Van Der Sande (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 16 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | ,, |
| 17 | Nicholas Dlamini (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 18 | Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 19 | Benjamin Thomas (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
| 20 | Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
Vuelta a Espana 2019 – general classification after stage 4:
| 1 | Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb) | 13:55:30 |
| 2 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +02” |
| 3 | Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First) | +08” |
| 4 | Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott) | +22” |
| 5 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | +33” |
| 6 | Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) | +35” |
| 7 | Sergio Higuita (EF Education First) | +37” |
| 8 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | +38” |
| 9 | Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe) | +46” |
| 10 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 11 | Victor De La Parte (CCC) | +48” |
| 12 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | +49” |
| 13 | Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) | +51” |
| 14 | Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) | +01’08” |
| 15 | Pierre Latour (AG2R La Mondiale) | +01’09” |
| 16 | Alexander Aranburu (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) | +01’10” |
| 17 | George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) | +01’13” |
| 18 | Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) | +01’16” |
| 19 | Zdenek Stybar (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +01’32” |
| 20 | Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) | +01’39” |
