Vuelta a España: Alejandro Valverde wins fourth stage in uphill struggle

Esteban Chaves of Colombia retains his overall lead by five seconds from Dutchman Tom Dumoulin with Ireland’s Nicholas Roche a further 10 seconds back.

Roche, like in the Tour, should be one of Froome’s main helpers when the Vuelta reaches the high mountain stages.

Our team set the tempo today like we did on the first road stage.

“We saw that it was a demanding finish and it could be good for me”, he said.

I knew it was Sagan on my wheel because I kept seeing his hair.

“I spent a lot of time with my team-mates on the front of the group”, Sagan said.

“The final climb was steep and very hard”. These were Nikolas Maes (Etixx-Quick Step), Bert Jan Lindeman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Jimmy Engoulvent (Europcar), Markel Irizar (Trek Factory Racing), Mickael Delage (FDJ) and the Presidential Tour of Turkey victor Kristijan Durasek (Lampre-Merida). The 35-year-old thoroughbreds staved off the inevitable until 11km remained, with Tinkoff-Saxo still firmly in control of proceedings.

Van Garderen quickly resumed his place in the peloton, though, which had completely reeled in the breakaway.

King went over the handlebars after overcooking the narrow exit from a roundabout 33km the finish and Van Garderen was caught up in the subsequent melee.

It was Valverde and Sagan who would contest the final spots, as they managed the exhausting final climb with aplomb.

Welsh cyclist Geraint Thomas nearly helped Team Sky mate Nicolas Roche to a famous Vuelta a Espana stage victpry before the Irish rider just ran out of steam in the final metres.

Valverde in particular timed his attack to perfection.

Spain’s Samuel Sanchez, gold medallist at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, attacked earlier on along with Roche but neither were able to hold out to the end as both faded before the finish line.

The line came unexpectedly soon and on a tight left-hand bend; had there been another 50 metres of flat, Sagan could well have made it two from two.

Valverde’s victory was his seventh of the season so far and ensures he remains in contention for the red jersey.