Nicolas Roche continues strong Vuelta run; bags another top 10 in strongman's finish

Nicolas Roche has taken another top 10 result on the uphill Vuelta finish today and while he lost his lead in the points classification he has retained his climbers' jersey.

By Gavin McLoughlin

Ireland’s Nicolas Roche bagged another top-ten placing on stage 4 of the Vuelta a Espana today, Tuesday.

As a sizeable lead contingent contested the stage victory atop a 2-kilometre finishing ramp, the Irishman produced a powerful sprint and arrived home in tenth place as part of the same group as stage winner Daniel Moreno (Katusha)

A disappointed runner-up to Roche on Sunday’s stage, Moreno now takes over the lead in the points classification, pushing the Saxo-Tinkoff man down to second place. However, Roche still holds the lead in the mountains and combined classifications.

The Irishman remains third in the overall standings and is 8 seconds behind a race lead re-taken today by Vincenzo Nibali of Astana.

Tour de France stage winner Dan Martin was also part of the lead group, but he was caught behind a 6-second split that occurred in the final dash for glory. Martin arrived home in 41^st place and is now 28^th overall, 1:47 off the red jersey.

Overnight leader Chris Horner finished on the same time as Martin and thus surrendered the jersey to Nibali, who finished alongside Roche.

Today the riders tackled a lumpy 189-kilometre trek from Lalín to Fisterra. The stage’s critical moment was likely to occur on the steep third-category Mirador de Ezaro, which peaked 35 kilometres out and included a punishing section of 29% gradient. The climb seemed set to propel a select group toward a finish line that sat atop a 2-kilometre ramp.

The day’s escape group was the quintet of Danilo Wyss (BMC), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Jussi Veikkanen (Française des Jeux), Alex Rasmussen (Garmin-Sharp) and Dennis Vanendert (Lotto-Belisol). Their gap was over 7 minutes by the halfway point, but when Omega Pharma-Quick Step swarmed to the front of the peloton the advantage began to dwindle.

Onto the crucial Mirador and the escapees were within touching distance. Edet was the strongest of the leaders, patiently churning his way up the energy-sapping slope and eventually crossing the summit alone. Wyss was the second man over.

As the weary suffered like dogs, Roche and Martin were safe toward the front of a rapidly-thinning peloton. When the summit neared, Roche jumped clear to take a single mountain point that remained on offer to the third man across the top.

On the descent, Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural) slipped away from the chasers and soon he had bridged across to Edet. José Herrada (Movistar), Luis Leon Sanchez (Belkin), Dominik Nerz (BMC) and Angel Vicioso (Katusha) soon emulated the Basque’s move.

But behind, Radioshack-Leopard kept the pace high and before long the leading sextet was swallowed up. Astana led the charge onto the finishing ramp and Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil) attacked under the flamme rouge.

It was another brave effort from the veteran Spaniard but he was hunted down ruthlessly by a determined Daniel Moreno, who soared past in search of glory. A ferocious charge from Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Leopard) followed, but Moreno managed to hold off the Swiss powerhouse and take the win.

Tomorrow’s stage 5 is a 174-kilometre run from Sober to Lago de Sanabria. Two third-category climbs will be traversed, the latter being the Alto de Padornelo which peaks about 30 kilometres from home.

Those are the only categorised climbs but there is plenty of uphill terrain so it will be difficult for the pure sprinters to make it to the end in the lead group. Failing a successful breakaway, it looks most likely to come down to another large gallop between those who are climbing better.

The final run to the finish-line is essentially flat so it will be less favourable to the Irish duo than today. The priority for Roche will be to hold on to his pair of jerseys, while Martin will be content to make it through without losing any time.

@gavmcloughlin