Bennett unlucky but holds Vuelta green as Pedersen closes gap | Video | Sticky Bottle

*Sam Bennett is still in the green jersey of points classification leader at La Vuelta despite some bad luck today on stage 4 (Photo: Charly Lopez)*

Sam Bennett remains in the green jersey of points classification leader at La Vuelta despite some bad luck on the 152.5km road from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Laguardia today. The Irish Bora-hansgrohe rider claimed 10 points at the intermediate sprint with some 35km to go but punctured soon after.

Whether the stage 2 and 3 winner would have made it over the late climb to contest the finish was a moot point after his mechanical, which took a while to change and put an end to his hopes for the day. In the his absence from the front of the race, one of his main rivals for green - Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) - performed well.

Pedersen had no answer on the drag up to the finish line when defending Vuelta champion Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) set his sights on stage victory. The Slovenian, who had already won the sprint for 3 bonus seconds at the top of the final climb, was dominant in the finishing sprint and easily won.

He claimed the victory from Pedersen, Enric Mas (Movistar), Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers), Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën), Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) and Remco Evenepoel (Quickstep Alpha Vinyl).

Pedersen took 13 points - just ahead of Bennett, - at the intermediate sprint and the Dane collected another 25 points for 2nd on the stage. That cut Bennett's advantage over Pedersen from 35 points at the end of stage 3 to just nine at the end of today's action.

Lara Gillespie attacks Dolomite stage as Giro hits high mountains — *Sam Bennett pounces for 10 points at the intermediate sprint, just behind Mads Pedersen and some lingering early breakaway men just ahead of them*

Video - Italy's hero Balsamo mobbed mid-stage during Giro TT — *Sam Bennett pounces for 10 points at the intermediate sprint, just behind Mads Pedersen and some lingering early breakaway men just ahead of them*

Tomorrow's stage - some 187.2km to Bilbao - features two Cat 2 climbs in the last 50km and whether Bennett or Pedersen will content at the finish or at the intermediate sprint after the first of those climbs remains to be seen.

Today, the front group was trimmed back to about 50 riders after the pace ramped up on the last climb, crested with 15km to go.

Roglič looked the strongest on that climb and was, by some far, best at the finish. If there are any cracks in his armour after being forced out of the Tour with crash injuries, they have not shown themselves thus far.

However, there is a long way to go and whether his endurance has been dented by his injuries and Tour exit will soon become clear. Today he took a total of 13 bonus seconds, including 10 for the stage win, and now has the overall lead by 13 seconds from his team mate Sepp Kuss with Hayter, Sivakov and Tao Geoghegan Hart, all Ineos Grenadiers, filling the next three spots all at 26 seconds.