2020 Giro d'Italia Stage 4 Results & Recap
Stage 4 of the 2020 Giro d'Italia is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Démare takes second Giro win in Villafranca Tirrena\nby Clara Beard
Since racing resumed in August, Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) has stacked up 10 wins to his name, and today, he claimed another at the 202 Giro d'Italia. Looking sharp in the Tricolour jersey, the French sprinter won stage 4 after 140km of racing to Villafranca Tirrena, edging out Peter Sagan (BOH) and Davide Ballerini (DQT) by the slimmest of margins. The finish was so close, it took several minutes before Demare was officially announced as the winner.
“At the finish, I think I’m second or third,” he said. “Also, Ballerini thought he got it and started to celebrate with his team. I was informed only later that I was the winner. However, I could not believe it until I got on the podium. I got lucky today, and it’s really amazing. I’m working on that last kick to the line with my father, and it’s paying off today."
João Almeida (Deceuninck - QuickStep) will stay in the maglia rosa for yet another day. The Portuguese superstar even managed to scoop up two extra seconds on GC after a hard fought intermediate sprint that offered bonus seconds. Yesterday's stage winner, Jonathan Caicedo (EF Education First), is second on GC and wears the maglia azzurra as the leader of the mountain classification. Peter Sagan will wear the maglia ciclamino as the sprinter with the most points.
The events of the day centered around a long, slogging drag at the midpoint of the stage, the Cat. 3 Portella Mandrazzi, which took the riders up into the clouds above the surrounding cities of the northeastern point of Sicily. At that point, Simon Pellaud (Androni-Giocattoli-Sidermec), Marco Frapporti (Vini Zabu-KTM), and Kamil Gradek (CCC Team) had been off the front since the opening kilometres, and enjoyed a gap of around three to four minutes for the majority of the stage. With some of the sprinters struggling on the gradient, Sagan's Bora hansgrohe team saw an opportunity to make life even more difficult and surged to the front. Their acceleration dislodged both Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates), Hodeg, and Elia Viviani (Cofidis) from the main bunch and, despite a huge effort by Hodeg and Colombian to rejoin the pack, it was futile and they had to relent with six kilometres to go. Viviani barely made it back in time to sprint, and the Italian ended up with sixth.
The breakaway's time in front was cut short by the sprinters' agenda, and Pellaud, the last rider to remain in front, was ushered back into the fold with 25km to go. From there, the teams wound up for the bunch gallop. For a time, Israel Cycling Academy looked to be in complete control, but by they went under the flamme rouge, FDJ and Cofidis took over the charge into Villafranca Tirrena.
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