BMC Racing’s Tejay van Garderen of the US won Thursday’s fourth stage of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya as Belgium’s Bart de Clerq took the overall leader’s jersey.
Van Garderen, 26, clocked 5 hours, 6 minutes, 36 seconds after the 188.4km ride between Tona and the ski resort of La Molina, Spain, to finish three seconds ahead of Australian Richie Porte, with Spaniard Alberto Contador third, eight seconds back.
Lotto Soudal rider De Clerq took the overall race lead from France’s Pierre Rolland ahead of yesterday’s 195.4km fifth stage between Alp and Valls, Spain.
Britain’s 2013 Tour de France winner Chris Froome struggled on the stage, finishing 28 minutes behind the leaders and he was 67th in the overall standings.
Overnight leader Rolland caved in on the climb to La Creueta, the stage’s summit 42km from the line.
The stage was decided in the final 6km, when Cannondale-Garmin’s Tom Danielson and Australia’s Riccardo Zoidl of Trek Factory Racing took the lead — the final survivors of a long breakaway from the start of the stage.
The two were quickly reeled in by Belarussian Vasil Kiriyenka of Team Sky, who moved ahead of a group of 20 pursuing riders, which included the favorites.
Shortly afterwards Van Garderen also moved clear, with Contador launching his attack with 2km to go.
The Spaniard left behind riders such as Sky’s Porte and Italy’s Domenico Pozzovivo, but the Australian managed to recover and with the help of Kiriyenka eventually overtook the former Tour de France winner, but could not catch Van Garderen.
“Yesterday, I had a bad day with a fall. Luckily, the damage was minimal and today I was fine,” said Van Garderen, who admitted that without a hope of winning the overall race he had been pushing for a stage win.
“I wanted to play a little from the back, maybe that cost me a little at the end, but I’m happy. The legs are increasingly better, although it was a little tough,” Contador said.
“What’s important now is to recover and move on,” the Tinkoff-Saxo rider added.
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