PICO VILLUERCAS, Spain (AP) — Primoz Roglic took the leader’s red jersey after winning a sprint to the line of a steep summit finish on the fourth stage of the Spanish Vuelta on Tuesday.
Roglic, a three-time winner of the Vuelta, only went in front about five meters (yards) from the line to edge Lennert van Eetvelt, who appeared to raise his right arm in a premature victory gesture.
The Slovenian star rose in the overall standings to now lead by eight seconds ahead of Joao Almeida, who placed third in the stage. Enric Mas placed fourth in the stage and is third overall, trailing Roglic by 32 seconds.
The grueling first mountain stage in the three-week race saw Wout van Aert give up the red jersey he wore for two days. Van Aert finished several minutes back after the 170.5-kilometer (106-mile) trek from Plasencia to Pico Villuercas.
Riders faced gradients of up to 20% in the last few kilometers (miles) to the finish and a group of seven approached a sprint to the line.
Mikel Landa made the first move but was quickly caught by Van Eetvelt, who approached the slight right-hand final bend in the road thinking he had won.
Stage five on Wednesday should suit the sprinters in a relatively flat 177 km (110 miles) route to Seville.
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