The fourth stage of the Tour of Italy smelled of sulfur, but the wind prevented the favorites from explaining themselves on the slopes of the Sicilian volcano of Etna, where the victory went to German Lennard Kämna on Tuesday before the Spaniard Juan Pedro Lopez, new. pink jersey.
Under the sun, on the first day on Italian territory after the start of the Hungarian, the breakaway of the sun ended up to a height of 1892 meters. To the combined happiness of Kämna and Lopez, the last two survivors shared honors in front of the Sapienza shelter.
The peloton of favorites approached the lengthy climb of Etna (22.8 km at 5.9%) almost six minutes late. In the end, the interval between the winning duo was just over two and a half minutes.
The stage has weakened, even condemned, some candidates for prizes. Mainly Dutchman Tom Dumoulin, dropped nearly ten kilometers from the summit without winning the 2017 Giro, 3rd in the time trial on Saturday, who found an explanation: I’m not good, that’s all!
Another former winner, Italian Vincenzo Nibali, then released, before the final six kilometers, alongside French climber Guillaume Martin. the Sharks The Sicilian lost more than two minutes to the favorites, the passive that also affected Norwegian Tobias Foss according to the theory of acting as the replacement leader in Dumoulin’s Jumbo team.
For Nibali’s Astana team, the day started in the worst possible way. Even before the end of the first hour of the race, its Colombian leader Miguel Angel Lopez retired. Actually, he was cursed in Sicily because he stopped the 2020 Giro from the first round in Palermo.
He complained about his left thigh two days before starting, but he hopes to recover. this is not the caseexplanation by a manager of his team after arrival.
Among the major favorites, the positions remained stable. We just verified the presence of Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, who usually ensures the speed of the climb before Olympic champion Romain Bardet beat for 7th place on the step.
In this strong group of 17 riders, Carapaz, who hid only one teammate (Richie Porte), was however able to verify the numerical strength of the two teams, Bahrain and Bora, represented by the three elements.
Lopez, whose professional record has had no success since his debut at the end of 2019, replaces Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, who has not tried to make contact with the first volcanic slopes.
I don’t know how long I will keep the jerseysaid the 24-year-old Andalusian rider of the Trek team. I don’t ask myself the question, I prefer sarap!
Canadian Alexander Cataford finished 58th on the stage, 11 minutes from Kämna. He was also 58th overall, 12 min 21 s behind Lopez.
On Wednesday, the race remains in Sicily for the 174 km long fifth stage between Catania and Messina. A pass (Portella Mandrazzi) is found before the half -point, but the finish is in favor of the sprinters.
Source: Radio-Canada
