The first three stages here in Spain have been decided by the GC favourites coming to the forefront and contesting the uphill finishes. We now transition to the race against the clock: 25kms.
Hansen of Evonik is in the driver's seat and has a great chance to go into the final mountain stage with yellow still on his back.
While Stannard (+4'59" ) and Renang (+6'12" ) are pegged as the favourite to win the stage.
No time checks on route today, so we only get the times at the finish.
Bit of a shame, but it makes for an easier report for the journalists here.
The first noteworthy name out on course is Cruz. He would have had his sights set on yellow at the start of the tour but after getting caught out on a few splits he can only hope to salvage a good result here to keep his manager happy.
He stops the clock at a respectable time of 32'26".
Ovakaua is the next true time trailist to test Cruz's time, but falls 46 seconds short. Ovakaua's time confirms Cruz put in a good ride.
The wind is starting to gust around making this a very unpredictable stage.
Shortly after Ovakaua goes through here comes one of pre-race favourites, Renang.
He can't beat Cruz either! He moves to provisional 2nd, 15 seconds off Cruz's time. Disappointing really, many thought he would do better.
Still 76 riders to come through and a lot of time for the wind to shift directions some more.
Huge wind gusts over 60kph as Stannard takes the course. It doesn't take him long to catch his first victim. But the race officials are quick to tell him to get out his slipstream.
No problem though, even the wind can't stop the Brit! He beats Cruz by the slimmest of margins... 1 second.
Will it be enough? If mother nature stays on his side that's going to be really tough time to beat.
With 50 riders left to come through only five riders are within a minute of Stannard's leading time. Rosseler makes it six as the next rider through the finish getting provisional 4th, 42 seconds off.
Oba is the first rider with a realistic shot to grab yellow after this stage being only 32 seconds off the lead. He is also a great time trailer.
He puts forth a solid ride that's 36 seconds off Stannard's mark and that's good enough to slot him into 4th place provisional. More importantly, he is currently in the virtual GC lead.
Taciak has been invisible for most of the race but is in a great position for a decent GC result after he finishes 6 seconds behind Oba.
The next biggest player is Joeaar. The wind picks up once again, 67kph! But it's cutting right around him as Joeaar hits the finish line with a time of 32'38". Still 14 seconds behind Stannard but good enough to move him into virtual yellow.
Bochman (rocking the all black helmet ) keeping Carlsberg's hopes alive for a good GC result by finishing 31 seconds off Stannard's time or better said, 17 seconds off Joeaar.
The Brazilian ITT Champion was overlooked by experts in pre-race discussion but is right in the hunt for a top 5 in GC or better.
Rumors on the road say Nicacio was been putting down a fast ride and the clock at the finish confirms it: 32'49".
Not good enough to dethrone virtual GC leader Joeaar, but he can easily make up those 11 seconds on the climb tomorrow.
That's how the top 10 looks with the current top 10 in GC left to finish.
Missing our cameras is one of the favourites for tomorrow, Iglinski who was the last rider to go through. A below average run: +1'07" on Stannard or otherwise +53" on Joeaar.
Still a reasonable amount he could pull back tomorrow.
6th through 10th in GC all have uninspiring rides and are not worthy of a photo.
10
Aleksandr Serebriakov
Team Ameriabank-Novatek
+1'52"
9
Eric Young
Dell - 361° Racing
+3'01"
8
Kenny De Ketele
Wounded Warrior Racing
+1'33"
7
Aleksei Saramotins
Evonik - Signal Iduna
+1'28"
6
Chris Anker Sørensen
Team Live Nation
+2'21"
None of them were expected to shine today and it showed.
All times related to current leader in the clubhouse: Stannard.
We move on to 5th in GC, Vitoria who came in 20 seconds off the lead of Hansen giving him a 12 second cushion to knock off Joeaar in virtual yellow at the moment.
But he has a terrible ride. +1'41" to Stannard's time. Next...
Orbe looking good in the youth jersey. He never would have expected to start so late in the day but a good breakaway gets him some extra TV time today.
To bad it can't cover up his TT abilities. +1'54" on Stannard.
His teammate Fernandez would like yellow but realistic he wants a solid time to keep the GC win within reach for tomorrow's mountain finish.
He does just that with a time of 33'45", Although he did lose 14 seconds to rival Iglinski.
Rodrigues is in the same situation as Fernandez. Would love to get a hold of yellow again and rip it away from Joeaar but a time better than Fernandez and Iglinski is what matters most.
He stops the clock at 33'57". Not good... That's giving up 12 seconds to Fernandez and 26 seconds to Iglinski.
Last but not least the man currently in yellow Hansen. He needs a time of 33'10" or better to keep it on his shoulder for the final stage. What's it going to be?
33'02"! He does it! He keeps yellow by 8 mere seconds.
Joeaar has to settle for 2nd overall after finishing 3rd today.
Evonik will go into the final stage 1-2 in GC.
The stage win goes to Stannard after narrowly beating Cruz by 1 second earlier into the day.
Now that time trialers had their fun, all eyes are focused on the climbers.
Here is were they are currently placed after stage 4:
All within striking range of winning the race. A few of them happened to slid past our cameras today, but for their sake I hope they won't be doing that tomorrow.
Finally at the end of the day the race officials decided to pushed everyone's time back a second except Stannard's after reviewing the milliseconds.
) keeping Carlsberg's hopes alive for a good GC result by finishing 31 seconds off Stannard's time or better said, 17 seconds off Joeaar.
