Jan Polanc wins on Mount Etna as Bob Jungels takes over maglia rosa on stage four
UAE Team Emirates' Jan Polanc stayed out all day to pull off an amazing breakaway victory on Mount Etna as Quick-Step Floors' Bob Jungels took over the maglia rosa on stage four of the Giro d'Italia.
After being in a break of four since the 2km mark, Slovenian Polanc set out on his own on Mount Etna and managed to maintain 19 seconds of clean air between himself and closest challenger, Katusha-Alpecin's Ilnur Zakarin, to take the stage and King of the Mountains jersey.
A bunch of main general classification contenders, fronted by Geraint Thomas and including Jungels, Vincenzo Nibali, Nairo Quintana, Adam Yates and Thibaut Pinot, came over the line together 29 seconds down.
The result means the Luxembourg champion takes control of the maglia rosa with a six second advantage to Team Sky's Welshman who moves into second place, with Orica-Scott's Adam Yates in third as the first of seven general classification contenders ten seconds adrift.
"It's incredible", exclaimed a delighted Jungels at the finish, "I didn't expect to get the maglia rosa today because it's such a hard climb. I've made a lot of progress, I rode a pretty clever race and I'm in good shape so for us [Quick-Step Floors] the Giro is already a success."
Pavel Brutt (Gazprom), Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates), Eugenio Alafaci (Trek Segafredo) and Jacques Janse van Rensburg (Dimension Data) animated the day's breakaway, but with none worrying the general classification contenders they were given a gap of eight minutes while the race made it's way 181km from Cefalu to Mount Etna.
Quick-Step Floors kept their maglia rosa, Fernando Gaviria, safe over the category two Portella Femmina Morta, putting the emphasis of responsibility on other teams to close the gap to the break.
On the descent, with 80km to go, attention firmly turned to Mount Etna. Quick-Step Floors began the task of bringing back the break, working to the interest of their leader and maglia rosa contender, Luxembourg national champion Bob Jungels.
As the break began the ascent of Etna, only two escapees remained, Janse van Rensburg and Polanc, and it looked very unlikely the pair would be able to fend off the impending peloton.
The peloton, however, was blown into chaos at 17km to go, when a selection of riders failed to make a right turn resulting in many riders crashing and some going the wrong way.
Polanc dropped Janse van Rensburg on the initial slopes of Etna, but still had over 16km to ride on his own through the isolated, exposed lava fields of the highest volcano in Europe.
Polanc dug deep and miraculously maintained the lead into the final kilometre where he could finally sit up after 181km of racing and celebrate the stage victory.
The strong headwind prevented any major GC attacks but with plenty of stages left, no riders wanted to show too much too early.
Stage five will see the homecoming of Vincenzo Nibali as The Shark rides into Messina. The 159km race from Pedara will be one for the sprinters with all the hills coming in the first third.
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| Credit: cyclingnews.com |
A bunch of main general classification contenders, fronted by Geraint Thomas and including Jungels, Vincenzo Nibali, Nairo Quintana, Adam Yates and Thibaut Pinot, came over the line together 29 seconds down.
The result means the Luxembourg champion takes control of the maglia rosa with a six second advantage to Team Sky's Welshman who moves into second place, with Orica-Scott's Adam Yates in third as the first of seven general classification contenders ten seconds adrift.
"It's incredible", exclaimed a delighted Jungels at the finish, "I didn't expect to get the maglia rosa today because it's such a hard climb. I've made a lot of progress, I rode a pretty clever race and I'm in good shape so for us [Quick-Step Floors] the Giro is already a success."
Pavel Brutt (Gazprom), Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates), Eugenio Alafaci (Trek Segafredo) and Jacques Janse van Rensburg (Dimension Data) animated the day's breakaway, but with none worrying the general classification contenders they were given a gap of eight minutes while the race made it's way 181km from Cefalu to Mount Etna.
Quick-Step Floors kept their maglia rosa, Fernando Gaviria, safe over the category two Portella Femmina Morta, putting the emphasis of responsibility on other teams to close the gap to the break.
On the descent, with 80km to go, attention firmly turned to Mount Etna. Quick-Step Floors began the task of bringing back the break, working to the interest of their leader and maglia rosa contender, Luxembourg national champion Bob Jungels.
As the break began the ascent of Etna, only two escapees remained, Janse van Rensburg and Polanc, and it looked very unlikely the pair would be able to fend off the impending peloton.
The peloton, however, was blown into chaos at 17km to go, when a selection of riders failed to make a right turn resulting in many riders crashing and some going the wrong way.
Polanc dropped Janse van Rensburg on the initial slopes of Etna, but still had over 16km to ride on his own through the isolated, exposed lava fields of the highest volcano in Europe.
Polanc dug deep and miraculously maintained the lead into the final kilometre where he could finally sit up after 181km of racing and celebrate the stage victory.
The strong headwind prevented any major GC attacks but with plenty of stages left, no riders wanted to show too much too early.
Stage five will see the homecoming of Vincenzo Nibali as The Shark rides into Messina. The 159km race from Pedara will be one for the sprinters with all the hills coming in the first third.
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