Place Name: Acceso Desde Ex-118 Al Pico De Villuercas
Address: Acceso Desde Ex-118 Al Pico De Villuercas, 10374 Navezuelas, Cáceres, Spain
Details: August 20, 2024
The first real test of this Vuelta sends the riders into Spain over four categorized climbs, finishing atop the Category 1 climb of Pico Villuercas.
The start was more active than the first two road stages but in the end, five riders got clear including Bruno Armirail of Decathlon AG2R, Pablo Castrillo of Equipo Kern Pharma, Filippo Zana of Jayco AlUla, Sylvain Moniquet of Lotto-Dstny, and Mikel Bizkarra of Euskaltel-Euskadi. The heat was intense all day with temperatures reaching 36C (97F). Riders were constantly going back to the car to gather bottles and ice for teammates. With 113KM to go at the top of the Alto de Piornal, the break had 3 minutes 30 seconds on a bunch being led by Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe. Armirail led over the third category climb with 40KM to go.
Some dysfunction in the group allowed Armirail and Castrillo to go together but their gap was diminishing quickly to just 2 minutes 10 seconds. Nico Denz of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe did the majority of the work in the peloton to keep the break in check but it was the Intermediate Sprint at 15.5KM and the run in to Pico Villuercas that really brought the gap down. The break started the climb with 1 minute 20 seconds but were caught at 5KM to go when the route turned left onto a concrete goat track that the Vuelta is so famous for.
With 4KM to go, none of the GC leaders had teammates to control so Felix Gall of Decathlon AG2R took his chance and went off the front. Primož Roglič of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe took responsibility and started to drop the others. Gall was caught by Roglič at 2.7KM to go with Enric Mas of Movistar and Lennert Van Eetvelt of Lotto-Dstny also in the group. Gall dropped back to the second group containing João Almeida of UAE and Matthew Riccitello of Israel-Premier Tech.
The second group got to the front when the route turned back onto the main road with 1.5KM to go. Mikel Landa of T-Rex Quickstep joined the group at 800M as attacks started. Landa was first to start the sprint but when Van Eetvelt started, Landa was quickly swallowed up. Van Eetvelt put his hands up just before the line but Roglič snuck around the outside and pipped and Van Eetvelt on the line. Almeida was third in the group of seven that finished on the same time. Roglič now leads the race overall by 8 seconds on Almeida and 32 seconds Mas.
Tags: La Vuelta Ciclista a España, 2024, August, Stage 4, La Vuelta Ciclista a España 2024, Plasencia, Pico Villuercas, Bruno Armirail, Pablo Castrillo, Filippo Zana, Sylvain Moniquet, Mikel Bizkarra, Nico Denz, Felix Gall, Primož Roglič, Enric Mas, Lennert Van Eetvelt, João Almeida, Matthew Riccitello, Mikel Landa