Colombia was the protagonist in the fourth stage of the Vuelta a San Juan. First with Egan Bernal who got into the break and moved the fraction and with Fernando Gaviria who was finally able to win the pack in a duel with Peter Sagan and Filippo Ganna at the finish line.
Egan got into the breakaway of the day, passed the first mountain pass of the day in fourth place, he tested his legs and proved to himself that he is back. The Colombian was accompanied by the Argentines Tomás Contte and Juan Pablo Dotti, the Italian Manuele Tarozzi and his compatriot Brayan Sánchez.
Egan tried to escape from the escape when they descended the port, but a few kilometers later all this was hunted down by the peloton. His movement made the group move faster to reach the escapees. United again, the usual fight of strategies began in which the teams of the favorites to win began to show their dominance.
Also, as in the previous stages and on his birthday, Remco Evenepoel was at the head of the group doing the wear work with his rivals. Movistar was also active with a train of three runners and the DSM followed the wheel.
Sam Bennett and Fabio Jakobsen, two of the day’s favourites, were left behind on the final climb. Fernando Gaviria and Peter Sagan did remain and were the favorites for the final metres. The Colombian was very well placed in the final meters He had more power than the Slovakian and beat him strongly at the finish line. In third place came Filippo Ganna. Another Colombian, Brandon Rivera, from Ineos, was sixth in the stage and is ninth overall.
With this result, Gaviria is the new leader of the race. The Colombian had not won a stage since February 15, 2022 in the Tour of Oman when he won the sixth fraction and was the leader of the points classification. It is his first victory with Movistar. The last time the Spanish team won the sprint was in October last year with Iván GarcÃa Cortina.
Fifth stage of the Vuelta a San Juan
The fifth stage of the Tour of San Juan will have 173.7 kilometers and will run between Chimbas and Alto Colorado. It is the queen stage of the competition and has four mountain prizes.
Two of the second category, one of the third and one of the first in the finish line where the favorites for the title such as Egan Bernal, Remco Evenepoel, Daniel MartÃnez and Sergio Higuita will surely appear.. The last ascent is 18.8 kilometers long and has an average gradient of 4.4 percent.
The stage will be next Friday, January 27, as there is a rest day on Thursday 26 before the final tour.