Matteo Trentin gave Quick-Step Floors team a second stage win at the 2017 Vuelta a Espana, two days after he was runner-up to Yves Lampaert.
Trentin benefited from a strong lead-out from his team and timed his sprint to perfection, surging past Juan Jose Lobato (LottoNL-Jumbo) to take a maiden win on La Vuelta by a bike length.
The day was one for the sprinters, with only a third-category climb on the course, which didn’t pose any problem to the peloton.
Yves Lampaert was the last man in front of Matteo Trentin, and the Belgian made sure of pumping in the watts and keeping his Italian teammate on his wheel as he negotiated the tricky and technical final meters, before Trentin opened his sprint and emphatically powered to the line, beating Juan Jose Lobato (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Tom Van Asbroeck (Cannondale-Drapac).
“We took responsibility again today and did the bulk of the work for most of the stage”, said Trentin. “Tim chased down the breakaway, then Bob and Niki protected me, while Julian and Yves brought me in a great position. I knew the last kilometer was a technical one, with several tight bends, but wasn’t worried at all about it, as I had Yves with me, who showed two days ago how good he is in such a situation. I am really happy I could repay all my teammates for their hard work and come out on top here.”
Vuelta a Espana 2017 – stage 4 results (Escaldes-Engordany – Tarragona):
| 1 | Matteo Trentin (Quick-Step Floors) | 4:43:57 |
| 2 | Juan José Lobato (LottoNL-Jumbo) | ,, |
| 3 | Tom Van Asbroeck (Cannondale-Drapac) | ,, |
| 4 | Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 5 | Jens Debusschere (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 6 | Sacha Modolo (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 7 | Lorrenzo Manzin (FDJ) | ,, |
| 8 | Søren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 9 | Youcef Reguigui (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 10 | Jetse Bol (Manzana Postobon) | ,, |
General classification after stage 4:
| 1 | Chris Froome (Team Sky) | 13:37:41 |
| 2 | David De La Cruz (Quick-Step Floors) | +02” |
| 3 | Nicolas Roche (BMC) | ,, |
| 4 | Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) | ,, |
| 5 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) | +10” |
| 6 | Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott) | +11” |
| 7 | Fabio Aru (Astana) | +38” |
| 8 | Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) | +39” |
| 9 | Romain Bardet (AG2R) | +48” |
| 10 | Simon Yates (Orica-Scott) | ,, |
| 11 | Michael Woods (Cannondale-Drapac) | +01’13” |
| 12 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | +01’17” |
| 13 | Warren Barguil (Team Sunweb) | +01’22” |
| 14 | Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) | +01’29” |
| 15 | Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) | +01’32” |
| 16 | Carlos Betancur (Movistar) | +01’35” |
| 17 | Igor Anton (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 18 | Louis Meintjes (UAE Team Emirates) | +01’43” |
| 19 | Wout Poels (Team Sky) | +01’44” |
| 20 | Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) | +01’52” |
