El Belga Thomas de Gendt refresco las memorias del Giro de Italia 2012, con una victoria improtante en la alta montaña, durante la cuarta etapa de la vuelta a Cataluña. El Belga supero al Colombiano Nairo Quitana con quien se desprendieron del lote en pleno ascenso a Port Ainé.
El lider de Lotto le tomo 1.08 al Colombiano Nairo Quintana de Movistar. Richie Porte de BMC y Alberto Contador del Tinkoff terminaron tercer y cuarto respectivamente..
En la clasificacion general el Colmbiano Nairo Quitana asumio el liderato, despues de imponer toda su categoria en el ascenso, ante sus principales rivales candidatos al titulo….
E Campeon del Tour de France 2015, Chris Froome de Sky, no pudo responder a los ataques de Quintana, quien le tomo 8 segundos en la general a Contador y 17 a Porte…
Thomas de Gendt de Lothus, brought back memories of his ride on the Stelvio in the Giro d’Italia in 2012 with another mountain top stage win on stage 4 of the Volta a Catalunya. The Belgian was in the early break and had the better of his companions on the queen stage to finish alone on the Port Ainé.
The Lotto Soudal rider, who enjoyed rather unpredictable form in recent years, finished 1:08 ahead of Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Richie Porte (BMC Racing). Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) finished fourth.
In the overall standings, Quintana moved into the race lead after dropping his rivals on the final climb. Overnight race leader Daniel Martin (Etixx-Quickstep) was unable to hang onto the relentless attacks in the closing stages and dropped down to fourth in GC.
The 2015 Tour de France winner Chris Froome (Team Sky) was unable to respond to Quintana and Contador but he was able to set his own pace on the 18.5km climb to finish in eighth position on the stage.
After four stages, Quintana leads Contador by 8 seconds with Porte in third at 17 seconds.