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Giro Stage 4 Race Report: The volcanic slopes of Etna saw the 2022 Giro d’Italia turned up-side down. Lennard Kämna won the stage and Juan Pedro López took the pink jersey. Behind them the top GC favourites finished together, but Vincenzo Nibali and Tom Dumoulin were dropped and Miguel Ángel López abandoned.
Stage 4 last K
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Kämna got the best of Juan Pedro López at the finish
Lennard Kämna won the fourth stage of the Giro d’Italia. On the Etna volcano, the German climber of BORA-hansgrohe crossed the line in front of Juan Pedro López, with whom he was part of the long breakaway. The Trek-Segafredo Spaniard took the pink jersey after the first serious mountain stage.
The start in Avola – Etna waits
The Route:
A stage through inland Sicily with a summit finish. The stage starts in Avola, passing Noto (the capital of Sicilian Baroque), Pantalica and Vizzini. On the approach to the volcano, the route undulates continuously, though with no major climbs. Outside the urban areas, the road surface may be damaged at points. Within the urban areas, the roads are usually narrow, with the common obstacles found in these settings.
The stage finishes by the Rifugio Sapienza, as it has previously, but the closing ascent is new. The climb begins in Biancavilla and intersects the Strada Milia (as in the 2018 Giro). Past the Astrophysical Observatory, the route merges onto the road coming from Nicolosi, heading for a ‘traditional’ finale at the Rifugio Sapienza.
Final kilometres
The last 3 km are on wide and well-paved road. The road winds its way along wide hairpins, mostly on lava fields. There is a mild counter-slope with 500m to go, before the final u-turn (250m before the finish). Here, the road goes up again along the home stretch (200m at 3%), leading to the finish line.
Sunny, but not too hot in Sicily for stage 4
The battle for the break of the day broke out early, but they had to fight seriously for it. After the first kilometres there was a crash involving Simon Yates. Everyone was able to continue. There was another crash in the first hour when a moto fell over in the bunch. Meanwhile, the attack attempts continued, with Van der Poel and Biniam Girmay joining in.
The Sicilian fans were out to greet the Giro
A leading group of fourteen men was created: Lilian Calmejane (AG2R Citroën), Stefano Oldani (Alpecin-Fenix), Valerio Conti (Astana), Lennard Kämna (BORA-hansgrohe), Rémy Rochas & Davide Villella (Cofidis), Diego Andrés Camargo (EF-EasyPost), Erik Fetter (EOLO-Kometa), Rein Taaramäe (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Alexander Cataford (Israel-Premier Tech), Gijs Leemreize (Jumbo-Visma), Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto Soudal), Mauri Vansevenant (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) and Juan Pedro López (Trek-Segafredo).
The Cathedral of Noto
The 2022 Giro d’Italia was over for Miguel Ángel López
These fourteen took a maximum of 11 minutes, where Bahrain-Victorious and INEOS Grenadiers, the teams of Mikel Landa, Pello Bilbao and Richard Carapaz, set the pace. In the leading group, Vansevenant was the best on GC at 43 seconds, putting the young Belgian in the virtual lead on the overall. Miguel Ángel López gave up the Giro in the first hour of racing due to struggling with an injury to his left hip.
The break of the day
The leading group was allowed to go by the peloton, which kept the difference at between 7 and 8 minutes for a long time. With 47 kilometres to go, the peloton accelerated as INEOS Grenadiers, Trek-Segafredo and Bahrain Victorious came forward. Due to the wind from the east, several teams tried to split the bunch. However, the nervousness was short-lived because the large group didn’t break, but the lead of the break was reduced to 7 minutes.
After a few attempts Thomas De Gendt didn’t get in the break of the day
At 25 kilometres from the finish, just before the foot of the final climb, Oldani broke away from the leading group and soon gained a 30 second lead. But it was still a long, hard road to the finish. He managed to extend his lead to 1 minute in the first kilometres of the climb. Van der Poel had to sit up in the peloton. While he had teammate off the front of the race, the Dutchman had to ride up Etna at his own pace and give up the pink jersey.
Hungarian Erik Fetter (EOLO-Kometa) made it into the break on the road to Etna
After the first 5 kilometres of the climb, Oldani had lost some of his lead over the six strongest chasers; the experienced Kämna, Taaramäe and the young Leemreize, Moniquet, Vansevenant and López. With 12 kilometres to go, López broke away from the chase group and the Spaniard, 11th in the Tour of the Basque Country, crossed to Oldini. Within 2 kilometres he joined the Italian. This was only short-lived as López dropped his Italian companion.
There was a bit of wind in Sicily, but the break still took 9 minutes
Would Van der Poel lose his pink jersey? He expected he would
Behind; the peloton was going too fast for Tom Dumoulin. While INEOS Grenadiers set the pace, the Dutchman had to let go. It was clear that the volcano Etna was too hard for the Giro winner. Dumoulin was designated by his team for the first Grand Tour of the season as one of the three leaders along with Sam Oomen and Tobias Foss, but now he will have to set other goals.
Stefano Oldani (Alpecin-Fenix) went solo from the break before Etna
Seven kilometres from the finish, Kämna broke away from Moniquet and Vansevenant and the German went after López. Oldani and Leemreize were going backwards fast, it also looked like Taaramäe was finished, but the Estonian climber fought back and even rode away from Moniquet and Vansevenant. Kämna appeared to have planned his climb well and joined López at 2 kilometres from the top. The two spoke, but there seemed to be no pre-arrangement and they rode together toward the finish. There, Kämna seized the stage win and López the pink jersey.
The Sicilian cactus on the foothills of Etna
Then the other break riders; Taaramäe, Moniquet, Vansevenant and Leemreize trickled in one by one. Two and a half minutes after winner Kämna, the favourites group crossed the line, led by Carapaz. There were no Jumbo-Visma men in the group; Foss and Oomen were 4:52 down, Dumoulin had lost more than 9 minutes. Vincenzo Nibali, Guillaume Martin, Domenico Pozzovivo, Jan Hirt and Bauke Mollema all lost time.
Juan Pedro López caught and passed Oldani
Kämna crossed to López and then out-sprinted him at the line
Stage winner and 2nd overall, Lennard Kämna (BORA-hansgrohe): “It was a super hard day, especially the last climb. I almost thought I had lost it when Lopez had 30 seconds. When I reached him, maybe we had a silent agreement about winning the stage and talking the Maglia Rosa. I’m so happy to have a stage win in the pocket for the team. It takes some pressure off.”
A very emotional López at the finish
Maglia Rosa and 2nd on the stage, Juan Pedro López Perez (Trek-Segafredo): “I’ve worked so hard today to take the jersey. I attacked in the steepest part of the climb. Kämna brought me back with 2 or 3 km to go. I tried to fight for the victory but it was so difficult. I’m so happy to have the Maglia Rosa. I don’t know for how long but I’ll enjoy it.”
Carapaz brought in the other GC favourites
# Keep it PEZ for everything pink. #
Giro d’Italia Stage 4 Result:
1. Lennard Kämna (Ger) BORA-hansgrohe in 4:32:11
2. Juan Pedro López (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
3. Rein Taaramäe (Est) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux at 0:34
4. Sylvain Moniquet (Bel) Lotto Soudal at 2:12
5. Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl
6. Gijs Leemreize (Ned) Jumbo-Visma at 2:31
7. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) INEOS Grenadiers at 2:37
8. Romain Bardet (Fra) DSM
9. Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain-Victorious
10. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates.
Giro d’Italia Overall After Stage 4:
1. Juan Pedro López (Spa) Trek-Segafredo in 14:17:07
2. Lennard Kämna (Ger) BORA-hansgrohe at 0:39
3. Rein Taaramäe (Est) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux at 0:58
4. Simon Yates (GB) BikeExchange-Jayco at 1:42
5. Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl at 1:47
6. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) BORA-hansgrohe at 1:55
7. Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain-Victorious at 2:00
8. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates
9. Richie Porte (Aus) INEOS Grenadiers at 2:04
10. Romain Bardet (Fra) DSM at 2:06.
Watch the most comprehensive live & ad-free coverage of the Giro d’Italia 2022 on GCN+. Go deeper and get interactive with live polls & quizzes, plus rider profiles, race updates, results & more – plus stream original and exclusive cycling documentaries. Watch it all with GCN+ on any device.
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