Carapaz wins stage four as Roglic benefits from rivals’ misfortune to extend Giro lead
Movistar’s Richard Carapaz held on to win stage four of the Giro d’italia in Frascati but Primoz Roglic was the big winner as a late crash hit his rivals and helped him extend his lead in the pink jersey.
A touch of wheels a little more than five kilometres from the finish led to several riders hitting the deck and caused a shake-up of the general classification. There had been much speculation as to whether the slight uphill finish would suit a sprinter or a punchier rider but in the end only a small group was left to contest the stage, Roglic and Carapaz the only major general classification hopeful s among them.
Mitch elton-Scott’ s Simon Yates was in the next group on the road alongside Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-merida), Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) and Bob Jun ge ls( Deceu nickQuickstep ), conceding 16 seconds toRoglic, but the big loser was Tom Dumoulin.
The Team Sunweb rider, second last year, already looks out of the reckoning as he crossed the line more than four minutes a ft erRoglic, bleeding heavily from his left knee.
Roglic now leads by 35 seconds from Yates, with Nibali a further four seconds back.
The win could also bring Carapaz back into the reckoning after a disappointing opening time trial, the bonus seconds leaving him 81 seconds off pink in 16th place.
Yates’ fellow L an castri an Hugh Carthy of EF Education First is 13th, 76 seconds down, while Team Ineos’ Pavel Sivakov sits in 17th, 84 seconds back as the team’s best-placed rider.
The crash completely split the peloton with only seven riders left in the front group to contest honours at the end of the 235 km stage from Or betello. Car apazattacke din the final few hundred metres and though Lotto -S oudal’s Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan set off after him, the Ecuadorian had just enough to hold on.
Earlier, an all-italian threeman break formed of Marco Frapp or ti (Androni Gio cattoli-sidermec), Marco Maestri (Bardiani CSF) and Damiano Cima (Nippo-vini Fantini-faizane) but the catch was made by thepe lot on with 10km to go and moments later came the crash which could yet prove pivotal in this Giro.