Cycling: Very strong, Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe)! On the fourth stage of the Vuelta a Espana, the German took seconds from some of his competitors in the overall standings. Unfortunately, it was no longer about winning the stage. Ben King (Dimension Data) secured this place as a breakaway.
Nine riders with a lead of over nine minutes
The fourth stage of the Vuelta a Espana was the first day for the breakaways. The peloton let nine professionals go on the 161-kilometer route from Vélez-Malaga up to the Sierra de la Alfaguara. In the peloton, only Team Sky managed to control the pace, but made no move to keep stage victory within reach. So could themselves Pierre Roland (EF Education), Nikita Stalnov (Astana), BenKing (dimension data), Ben Gastauer (AG2R La Mondiale), Lars Boom (LottoNL Jumbo), Jelle Wallays (Lotto Soudal), Aritz Bagues (Euskaltel), Oscar Cabedo Carda (Burgos BH) and Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) had a lead of over nine minutes and decided to win the stage up to the Puerto de Alfacar. Before that, the last-mentioned professional secured further valuable points in the fight for the mountain jersey. So tomorrow we will see him again in white with blue dots.
Ben King celebrates stage win
The final climb, Puerto de Alfacar, belongs to the first category and has an average gradient of 12,4 percent over a length of 5,4 kilometers. Because it includes two flat sections, the average somewhat belies the difficulty of the mountain. Finally, ramps of more than eleven percent had to be completed. Before the classification riders were supposed to have a fight here, the leading group fought for the day's victory - and for the red jersey. At first it looked like it could BenKing prevail because he is together with Nikita Stalnov deposed from his companions. But in the peloton, the LottoNL-Jumbo team increased the pace so drastically that the red jersey was a long way off again. The American still had reason to be happy: he proved to be faster in the two-man sprint – and celebrated the greatest success of his career. came third Pierre Rolland, who almost came close to the leading duo in the last meters.
Emanuel Buchmann almost grabs the red jersey
Out of the group of favorites Simon yates (Mitchelton-Scott) had an attack about four kilometers from the finish. Also the German hope Emmanuel Buchman (Bora-hansgrohe) pulled away. The two secured places #8 and #9 in the daily standings. Much more important than today's placement, however, are the gains in seconds in the overall standings. Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky) was able to defend his red jersey again, but the Pole lost a few seconds to Emanuel Buchmann, so he is now only seven seconds ahead of the German. Strong performance by the captain of Bora-hansgrohe!
'Pow! Thank you very much!' 💥@TeamDiData @BenKing89 seals a victory in the first mountain stage of #LaVuelta18 pic.twitter.com/hJ1XqSJZdT
- Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) August 28, 2018
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