Tuesday, August 26th, 4th stage: Susa > Voiron
Called at the last minute to participate in La Vuelta 25, Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) proved to be more than up to the challenge as he punched his way to victory in Voiron on day 4! The young Briton takes his third professional victory, the first in a Grand Tour, three weeks after he opened his UCI WorldTour tally in the Tour de Pologne. As the race left Italy and arrived in France, Turner managed to get the better of Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), the first winner of La Vuelta 25. French crowds also got to see David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) take La Roja, his first Grand Tour leader’s jersey. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) is still level on time, but the tiebreaker shifted in favour of the Breton climber, 25th on the day, while the Dane came 42nd. Gaudu is the 27th French leader of the Spanish Grand Tour, following in the tracks of Gilbert Bauvin (the first, in 1955, when La Vuelta visited France for the first time) and Lenny Martinez (the last, in 2023).
After three exhilarating first days of competition capped off by David Gaudu’s success in Ceres, La Vuelta 25 leaves Piedmont and Italy with a start in Susa and heads to France, crossing Col de Montegenèvre and Col du Lautaret en route to Voiron. It’s a long day on the saddle (206.7 km, the biggest distance in this edition), packing almost 3,000 metres of elevation (2,919m).
5 attackers tackle the early summits
The road quickly rises and five attackers eventually manage to go clear atop the first ascent of the day, to Exilles (summit at km 10.4): Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step), Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Kamiel Bonneu (Intermarché-Wanty) and Mario Aparicio (Burgos Burpellet BH).
Nicolau chases the polka-dot jersey and goes first atop the Exilles climb (cat. 3), but he’s beaten by Vervaeke at Col de Montgenèvre (cat. 2, km 37.8), marking the 13th visit of La Vuelta in France. That means the Spanish attacker matches the 8-point tally of the leader of the KOM standings, Alessandro Verre (Arkéa-B&B Hotels).
Nicolau emulates Fraile, the peloton chase hard
Mads Pedersen’s Lidl-Trek accelerate over the summit to bring the gap down from 4 to 2 minutes en route to the Col du Lautaret (cat. 2, km 76.8). Winner of the combativity award on day 3, Sean Quinn drops his breakaway companions before the summit. Nicolau is 2nd at the summit. He is set to be the first rider from Caja Rural-Seguros RGA to step on the podium of La Vuelta to receive a distinctive jersey since Omar Fraile won the KOM standings in 2015.
The five attackers get back together on the downhill towards Le Bourg d’Oisans. The peloton get back to them with 91 km to go. Aparicio goes again, only to be reeled 2 kilometres further into France.
Turner and Gaudu take glory
A bunched peloton reaches the intermediate sprint in Noyarey (km 174.4). Mads Pedersen goes first on the line. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) chase bonus seconds but they have to settle for 4th and 5th place. Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) attacks after the sprint, and opens a gap of 40’’. He’s reeled in with 15 km to go.
In the finale, Lidl-Trek and Alpecin-Deceuninck try to take control of the sprint, but they can’t hold off Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers), called to participate in La Vuelta after Lucas Hamilton had to withdraw on the eve of the race! In 25th position, David Gaudu makes sure there are more than 8 riders between him and Jonas Vingegaard (42nd), earning his first Grand Tour leader’s jersey in front of delighted French crowds!
Stage 4
- Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) 4h50’14”
- Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +00”
- Edward Planckaert (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +00”
GC
- David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) 15h45’50”
- Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) +0’00”
- Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +0’08”
