The challenge of Dan Martin faltered on the brutal finishing climb in Spain but he still looked in good early soon form.
Dan Martin’s hopes of taking a really big stage and general classification result at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana fell away as Naira Quintana turned the screw with brutal efficiency.
The Colombian simply rode away from the field on the final 4km brutal Mas de la Costa climb to the summit finish that put order on the standings.
With the early breakaway swept up just before the climb started, Quintana went ahead immediately the road kicked up.
And while Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data) and Amaro Antunes (W52/FC Porto) went after Quintana and stayed with him for a short period, in truth Martin never threatened in any real way.
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He began the climb much further back the group than one would have expected and even if he had the legs to respond to the initial acceleration of Quintana he was far too far in the group to be able to move.
Quintana was simply too good on the final climb, making his move at the base and keeping it going all the way to the top. He took victory and the leader's jersey with just one stage remaining.
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In was by no means a bad day for the QuickStep rider who rode to 6th place on the day, though he relinquished 1:07 to Quintana on that final 4km climb.
The Colombian took the yellow jersey from Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) and with a stage that looks made for a sprint finish to conclude the race tomorrow, the general classification battle is over barring major incident.
He now leads from Ben Hermans (BMC) by 23 seconds, with another BMC man Manuel Senni in 3rd a further 19 seconds down.
Next overall is Team Sky’s Wout Poels, who is 1:02 down with Martin next in 5th place and 1:19 off the yellow jersey.
Philip Deignan (Team Sky) was 20th on the stage 3:05 and, like Nicolas Roche (BMC), he was hampered by team duties today.
Roche came home in 50th place some 10:02 down while Ryan Mullen (Drapac-Cannondale) was 151st at 28:02.
However, a course like today’s was never going to suit Mullen and he will look to other goals a little later in the season having gotten some very hard miles into his legs in recent days.
Stage 4: Segorbe-Llucena (180km)
1 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar 5:02:19
2 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Team Dimension Data 0:00:40
3 Amaro Antunes (Por) W52/FC Porto 0:00:45
4 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky 0:00:48
5 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:57
6 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:07
7 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:01:08
8 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:01:10
9 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:01:13
10 Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac 0:01:17
General Classification
1 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar 14:20:16
2 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:23
3 Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:00:42
4 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky 0:01:02
5 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:19
6 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:01:52
7 David De La Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors 0:02:03
8 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Team Dimension Data 0:02:17
9 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:02:22
10 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:35
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