Critics of an overly flat opening to the Giro will have a reason to smile today as the race takes on a change in terrain at the end of this stage. The San Luca climb near Bologna is well known in Italian cycling as the deciding factor in the Giro dell'Emilia classic. A ProTour race in 2010, and currently a HC race for the ProContinental teams to target, Riccardo Ricco won that race in 2011 so may fancy his chances today to make his first stride towards defending this race.
But competition does not come much tougher than the Liege-Bastogne-Liege champion, Yuri Trofimov. With all the flat beforehand, this is also an ideal stage for the pure puncheurs - Dimitri Claeys and Cesare Di Maggio are the strongest of those.
Daniele Bennati dons the Maglia Rosa today, and how hard will he try to defend it? If he is willing to push himself on the climb, the time bonus cushion he has built up could be enough to keep him in front.
It doesn't matter how the stage ends, there will always be attacks - and lots of them - at the start. First up were:
Yonathan Monsalve Lars Croket Simon Zahner Mauro Facci Johannes Frohlinger Jocelin Maillet Jakub Kratochvila Tyler Brandt
Giro veteran Facci gets himself briefly on tv for the first time this race, while Croket shows that the sprinters are now in breakaway chasing mode - not that the Belgian has been anywhere near the sprints so far in this race. The trend continues on the next attack as Degenkolb gets involved.
John Degenkolb Yonathan Monsalve Philip Deignan Thomas De Gendt Jakub Kratochvila
A hilly finish has allowed Pokerstars the freedom to join the breakaway attacks, as it has for Vesuvio with De Gendt in the action on this move, and also the breakaway attempt that follows:
Thomas De Gendt Wes Sulzberger Christophe Riblon Mickaël Delage Martijn Maaskant Martin Hacecký Jocelin Maillet Coen Vermeltfoort
Sulzberger seems to be amongst those trying to attack each day, but being unable to time it right. And that has happened again as the peloton are still chasing things down, with a combination of chasers from Koenigsegg, Santander, Aker-MOT and Puma-SAP.
Now Kratochvila tries again for the 3rd time today.
Petar Panayotov Jakub Kratochvila Philip Deignan Simon Zahner Tom Stubbe Brian Vandborg
Still no luck, but Deignan and Panayotov drive on, determined to make this stick.
They are successful, and 3 riders join them to form the break of the day:
Petar Panayotov Philip Deignan Johannes Frohlinger Martijn Maaskant Thomas Peterson
Evidently Maaskant has decided that the best way to rest from leadout duties is to go on attack all day. But he shows why he is a leadout man and not a sprinter as he is surprisingly beaten at the intermediate sprint in a close victory for Deignan.
Aker, Santander and Bacardi have taken responsibility of the peloton. Amongst those relaying at this point in time are:
But other riders from these teams do soon get involved - particularly as they have something more pressing to chase. Ion Izagirre and Ben Gastauer attacked the peloton, and joining them soon after were another Vesuvio rider Maciej Paterski, plus Santo Anza and Nick Nuyens.
It's a tough battle for the five against the fast peloton. They only gain a small gap and it is taking all their efforst to keep it.
At the other end of the field, a large group of riders has been detached. Seemingly they have decided with 20km to go to take an easier ride to the finish, but some of the names in there really do not make sense.
You can understand why time bonus winning sprinters Swift, Mohs, Van Heerden and Caethoven, plus best young rider Vanderbiest see no reason to push themselves on a day like today, but also in here are the entire Wiggle team. From their pure climbers Scarponi and Costagli, to all rounder Rabottini, and somebody who could have done well at the finish today, Caruso.
Also with full representation in the dropped group are fellow Italians Venchi - Sugoi. So much for Di Maggio being a threat on today's stage, and their GC contender Duarte is not going to come out well from this either.
Up front, the mid-stage attackers are still trying their best. They can climb well, so if they can reach the climb with a gap they would fancy their chances. But the way it is developing, they are merely weakening any chances there by using up their energy too soon.
The break is still clear, but not by much. Deignan and Panayotov were the key figures in the formation of the move, and now they have joined together again to drop their companions and enter the final 10km with a small lead.
The catch is soon to happen though and now Bennati has moved forwards with his teammates. The further forward he is at the start of the San Luca climb, the more chance he has of retaining that race lead.
Game over for the breakaway, and Puma now control the pace as we close in on the finish. But at 3.5km to go there are more attacks: Anza, Paterski and Koren.
The climb comes into view as Betancourt, Wallays and McCarthy join this attack, which could be ideal for positioning into what looks set to be a big uphill sprint to the line.
Carlos Betancourt is a dangerous rider to allow a gap though, as the Colombian presses on in pursuit of a victory for wildcard squad Hollister.
But Puma have kept the peloton in touch with them, and now we see why as Nick Nuyens goes on the attack on these 11% slopes.
He creates a gap, but that is shortlived as he begins to feel the pace - and sees Betancourt fight back. But Puma-Sap are all over this with Bol, Bennati and Gasparotto in prime positions. Surely Bennati can't challenge for the stage win?
Where will the threat come from behind? Trofimov is fairly well placed on the wheel of his teammate, with Ulissi just behind him - but the other riders here are more team mates than team leaders.
Betancourt opens up a lead as Puma's optimistic domination hopes fade away. Leading the pursuit is Jelle Wallays, who will know Betancourt well as both rode on loan at Vesuvio-Accumalux last year.
But Yuri Trofimov is on a charge, this is his terrain now.
Betancourt starts to falter, and coming right up on his shoulder is Kristjan Koren.
The Slovenian takes his lead, and is providing a serious threat to the charge of Trofimov.
Ulissi, Spilak and Claeys are chasing after them, moving past the battling Bennati.
Despite Koren's best efforts, Trofimov is proving to be just too strong as the line nears...
And there could be more than time bonuses here. A gap has opened up in front of the 'Puma Roadblock'. Riccardo Ricco has finally got himself to the front, but won't like what he sees.
Stage win for Yuri Trofimov!
Kristjan Koren fought well for 2nd, while Jelle Wallays finishes strongly for 3rd, and the Belgian will take over the lead as the best Young rider in the race.
Ulissi, Claeys and Spilak will have hoped for better stage positions but there could be a good consolation for Spilak if he has gained a gap here.
Ricco takes 9th on the stage, but there is going to be a gap of 29 seconds here. Very useful gains for Spilak and Trofimov in particular.
Manuel Lloret takes 10th, close enough to Ricco to ensure the 29 second gap is spread around. A valiant effort from Bennati for 11th will earn him some valuable points for the points classification. He has lost 49 seconds on Trofimov with time bonuses ... but he started the day 50 seconds ahead. So he keeps the Maglia Rosa for another day, by just 1 second!
Phinney is towards the front here, while Nibali and Madrazo are towards the back of this group that Sella has to dig deep to join.
And Sella's efforts prevent a further split in the field, which is good news for the other GC contenders and especially Henao Montoya who finished right at the back of the peloton.
Having hit the turn off switch, the large Wiggle and Venchi group ended up losing 8 minutes and 25 seconds. Angry words will be said in their team hotels tonight.
Four stages in, and only 30 riders remain within a minute of the race leader on GC. If this is what happens on a mostly flat opening, what carnage awaits for the rest of the race. Stage 5 will be the first indication as it is significantly the hardest stage of the race so far.
1
Yuri Trofimov
Koenigsegg
3h13'16
2
Kristjan Koren
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
Yonathan Monsalve
Lars Croket
Simon Zahner
Mauro Facci
Johannes Frohlinger
Jocelin Maillet
Jakub Kratochvila
Tyler Brandt
Philip Deignan
Wes Sulzberger
Martijn Maaskant
Petar Panayotov
Brian Vandborg
Aitor Hernández Gutierrez
Alexandre Shushemoin
