Stage 4

The road

At the start

The longest day, to Vejer

Esteban Chaves keeps red by five seconds from Tom Dumoulin. Fabian Cancellara has abandoned, and so has Paolo Tiralongo, who rode to the Caminito del Rey with his head bleeding. Today is the longest stage of this Vuelta at 211 kilometres, flat almost all of it, and then two steep climbs through the white streets of Vejer de la Frontera with bonus seconds at the top.

How it was won

1. 134 km to go

   A tight corner on smooth roads

   Thirteen and a half minutes of breakaway lead has become one by Chiclana, and here a fast bend catches out a clutch of riders. BMC send three men back to shepherd Tejay van Garderen home; the peloton does not slow down for a second.

2. 24 km to go

   The hairpin at four kilometres

   The longest stage of the race ends with a tight left-hand hairpin onto the climb into Vejer de la Frontera. Position is everything; Van der Sande goes at the bottom, Bilbao goes next.

3. 32 km to go

   Sánchez and Roche gamble

   Samuel Sánchez counters on a short descent with Nicolas Roche glued to him, and for a moment the Irishman is riding for the red jersey and the stage at once.

4. 4At the line

   Valverde soars past

   Sánchez is swallowed first, Roche holds on until 200 metres, and then Alejandro Valverde comes by with Sagan on his wheel and doesn't stop. Chaves loses time but keeps red.

The result