Nairo Quintana (Movistar) has won in impressive fashion the queen stage of Volta a la Comunidad Valenciana after he attacked right at the foot of the final climb of the day, up the extremely steep Mas de la Costa.
He came into the decisive day of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana with a 54” deficit against the GC leader, a gap seemingly unsurmountable in only four kilometers of definitive climbing, yet Saturday brought a pure exhibition by Quintana in the Mas de la Costa ascent, one of the most amazing display in his career to take over the leader’s jersey..
Quintana attacked right from the bottom of the ascent, initially followed by Amaro Antunes (W52-FC Porto) and Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data). The Portuguese rider was soon dropped back, with the Eritrean still keeping Quintana’s wheel for just over one kilometer before losing sight of the Colombian’s wheel. A very steady pace ended up bringing him the 32nd victory of his career, 40″ ahead of Kudus and 1’07” over Ben Hermans (BMC)..
“Today’s development of things was almost exactly what we were planning before the stage. We’re still testing out how my body is responding this early in the season, and it all went really smoothly today. I was going well through the steepest parts of the climb – it really is a good sign before more important points of the season, and it helps us to understand how we should train from now on. It’s a very happy and special victory in my birthday, of course – it’s one I want to dedicate to my family (my wife, my little daughter) and my friend Adriano. He’s always on our minds when we race, and we miss him so much here.”, said Quintana.
Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 2017 – stage 4 results (Segorbe – Llucena):
| 1 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | 5:02:03 |
| 2 | Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data) | +40” |
| 3 | Amaro Antunes (W52-FC Porto-Porto Canal) | +45” |
| 4 | Wout Poels (Team Sky) | +48” |
| 5 | Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +57” |
| 6 | Daniel Martin (Quick-Step Floors) | +01’07” |
| 7 | Ben Hermans (BMC) | +01’08” |
| 8 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +01’10” |
| 9 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) | +01’13” |
| 10 | Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Drapac) | +01’17” |
General classification after stage 4:
| 1 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | 14:20:16 |
| 2 | Ben Hermans (BMC) | +23” |
| 3 | Manuel Senni (BMC) | +42” |
| 4 | Wout Poels (Team Sky) | +1’02” |
| 5 | Daniel Martin (Quick-Step Floors) | +01’19” |
| 6 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) | +01’52” |
| 7 | David De La Cruz (Quick-Step Floors) | +02’03” |
| 8 | Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data) | +02’17” |
| 9 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +02’22” |
| 10 | Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar) | +02’35” |
