2023 Vuelta a Espana: Stage 4 Results

Sprinter Kaden Groves of the Alpecin-Deceuninck squad took advantage of a late crash to power to an uphill sprint stage win in Stage 4 of the 2023 Vuelta a Espana. Remco Evenepoel finished with the peloton to hold onto the La Roja.

After the first mountain showdown in Andorra, the race headed back to the seaside with a stage finish in Tarragona after 184.6km from Andorra la Vella. The stage was slated to be one for the sprinters, but two cat-3 ascents in the last 60km and a slightly uphill finish could have given attackers a chance to succeed. The sprinters don’t want to miss any opportunity as there are only four stages categorized as flat on this year’s route (stages 7, 12, 19 and 21).

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) starts the day in La Roja after winning yesterday’s stage. The Belgian star and defending champion leads with a gap of 5’’ to Enric Mas (Movistar) and 11’’ to Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ).

The day started with an immediate attack by Eduardo Sepulveda (Lotto Dstny), Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH) and David Gonzalez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA). The peloton let them go but kept them close.

The peloton covered 47.8km in the first hour, but the gap never went much beyond two minutes.

As the stage went into its last 100km, the leaders only had a 1’17” gap.

The gap ballooned up to 1’45” briefly before the GC teams upped the pace and brought it back down to 1’10” with about 70km to go.

As the race started up the first climb of the day, the Cat. 3 Alto de Belltall, the gap was still holding. No one was any hurry to amp up the pace this early in the race.

Sepulveda took the points at the top of the climb, but as the second climb approached, the peloton bumped up the pace and brought the gap down to 30 seconds. It was increasingly looking like the bunch would not allow him to take the points atop the Col de Lilla.

40km to go and the gap was down to 28 seconds.

Sepulveda, Okamika, and Gonzalez held a gap of 30” as they faced the cat-3 ascent of Coll de Lilla (4.9km at 5.5%). Sepulveda again took the top points, but Sepulveda was caught soon after with 22km to go. Okamika held on long enough to take the points in the final intermediate sprint.

Ineos and Soul-Quick Step were controlling the lead now. Fraile and Ganna were setting the pace with Thomas on their wheel. Alpecin-Deceuninck was also moving up the right side of the road.

A dozen of riders were involved in a crash in the bunch, including Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious).

Alpecin-Deceuninck took the reins into the final kilometer. The run into the finish had a lot of corners so all were taking it easy, but an EF Education-Easy Post rider still miscalculated a corner and went down, opening an opportunity for Kaden Groves.

Groves overcame Juan Sebastian Molano in the final meters with Edward Theuns crossing the line in third position.

Calm Day for Evenepoel

Overall, it was a pretty calm day for the 23-year-old Belgian of Soudal Quick-Step, and a well-deserved one for that matter after the intense and eventful start of this edition. The first reigning Belgian Champion in 45 years to win a stage of La Vuelta, Remco will hope for a similar scenario on the roads to Burriana, where Wednesday’s 186.2km stage five concludes.

“My team did a great job protecting me the entire day and especially in the finale, where we stayed calm as things became more hectic due to the presence of that many roundabouts. I felt good after yesterday’s crash – the team doctors took really good care of me – I didn’t experience any stiffness on the bike, and it was a nice first day, and a quite calm one, in the red jersey. Tomorrow should be another opportunity for the sprinters, and afterwards we’ll focus again on the climbing and the fight for the general classification”, said Remco after the finish.

2023 Vuelta a Espana Stage 4 Brief Results

1. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
2. Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates)
3. Edward Theuns (Lidl-Trek)
4. Milan Menten (Lotto Dstny)
5. Dries Van Gestel (Total Energies)

General Classification After Stage 4:

1. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) @ 12h 48’58”
2. Enric Mas (Movistar Team) @ 5″
3. Lenny Martinez (Groupama – FDJ) @ 15″
4. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo- Visma) @ 31″
5. Aleksandr Vlasov (BORA – hansgrohe) @ 33″