Froome stays in red as Sky manage to keep control

Chris Froome safely negotiated a tricky run-in to Tarragona to retain his two-second lead on stage four of the Vuelta a Espana.

Having claimed the race leader’s red jersey for the first time in six years on Monday’s stage to Andorra, Froome was attentive throughout, making sure he was not caught on the wrong side of any splits as Matteo Trentin (Quick Step-floors) took victory in the final sprint.

Froome’s hopes at last year’s Vuelta were sunk on stage 15, when he was ambushed by Nairo Quintana and Alberto Contador, and the Briton is determined not to allow any slip-ups this year.

“With a tricky final run-in like today everyone was afraid of time splits,” Froome admitted after a day in which Team Sky controlled the gap to the day’s five-man breakaway before putting in a big effort to keep their man right up front as the sprinters’ teams began to get involved.

“It was worth expending a bit of energy to stay ahead,” he added. “My team-mates did a massive job in helping me get up there. It was a good day and a great feeling to be back in red after six years. It’s a huge privilege to be in this position. It was just about enjoying being in the red jersey today.”

Asked again whether he felt it was possible to defend the jersey all the way to Madrid on Sept 10, Froome said: “It’s hard to say. I’ve got a lot of confidence in the guys around me. They’ve ridden a great race up until now. I’m not going to give anything away and we’re definitely going to fight to keep the jersey as long as we can.”

Froome remains two seconds ahead of Spain’s David de la Cruz [Quick Step-floors], Irishman Nicolas Roche and American Tejay van Garderen [both BMC].

Further down the general classification, Britain’s Simon Yates [Orica-scott] moved up to 10th overall after Italy’s Domenico Pozzovivo crashed late on and lost 3min 25sec.

Yates’s twin brother and teammate, Adam, stayed eighth overall, nine seconds ahead of Simon. The twins are part of a three-pronged general classification strategy from Orica-scott, with Esteban Chaves also being backed.

“Pretty easy really,” Adam Yates replied yesterday when asked how Orica-scott planned to play their cards over the next 2½ weeks. “We just try our best, and if one of us has good legs on the day then they can try something.”