Tadej Pogacar took a huge step towards winning the Vuelta a Espana for the first time and completing his Grand Tour collection as he powered to a resounding victory in the fourth stage on Tuesday.
The Slovenian sped away from his rivals with 50km remaining in Andorra la Vella and finished the 104.8km mountainous stage in two hours 40 minutes 35 seconds, two minutes and 39 seconds ahead of Jarno Widar – the largest margin of victory of Pogacar’s Grand Tour career.
He began the day top of the general classification with a nine-second lead and looks increasingly unlikely to relinquish the red jersey, extending his advantage to three minutes and 21 seconds.
“It’s super good because now I can be calm and confident for the next days,” said Pogacar, who remains on course to become the first rider since 1994 to lead a Grand Tour from start to finish.
“We just keep going day by day and focus on each day after this, because it will be a little bit less stressful for sure.
“I tried with an attack on the climb and I just hoped that I could survive until the finish line. I saw that I could open the gap and I did it and it was pretty tough but a beautiful day out there.”
After Monday saw the third stage abandoned because of severe hailstorms in the French Pyrenees, Pogacar began stage four patiently as he sat in the third peloton about 32 seconds behind the leading group.
Lorenzo Fortunato of UCI WorldTeam XDS Astana led across the summit of the first mountain pass to collect the mountain points before Pogacar made his move.
With 50km remaining the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider surged uphill and began his descent from the second climb with a lead of 90 seconds.
From then on the 27-year-old raced alone and completed the longest Grand Tour solo victory of his career, surpassing the 43km benchmark he set on the the Col du Tourmalet last month en route to winning stage six of the Tour de France.
At one point he stretched his lead to almost three minutes, before a chasing group including Widar and fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic were able to win some seconds back.
Roglic replaces Wout van Aert – who finished 24 minutes and 35 seconds off the pace – in second place in the general classification, with Spaniard Enric Mas in third.
On Wednesday the 173.3km hilly stage five will start in Falset near Tarragona – the site of more severe hail on Monday – and finish in Roquetes as the Vuelta heads south down Spain’s east coast.