Tour Down Under (st. 4)
Telephone squad works all together, gets Gorka Izagirre into final attacks to fight Juanjo Lobato's chances; crash avoids him sprinting on Tour Down Under stage 4. Fernández now 9th overall leading up to Willunga Hill
Movistar Team showed total confidence on Juanjo Lobato's chances as their main sprinter on Friday during stage four of the Tour Down Under -144km between Glenelg and Mount Barker-, as the Blues took over the highlights during the finale. The squad directed by José Luis Arrieta took command into the field with their full roster at the 30km-to-go mark, searching for the second relevant break of the day -Serry (EQS), Belkov (KAT), Tleubayev (AST)- and profiting from the absence by Marcel Kittel (TGA), dropped back into the opening climbs.
The huge pace by Lastras, Sanz and Capecchi found responde by SKY, which neutralized the leaders with 10km to go before a duo attack by Lars Boom and Luis León Sánchez (AST) momentarily broke the playing schemes. Gorka Izagirre showed attentive by countering the move, and the subsequent chase brought back the race to a mass sprint situation; however, Juanjo Lobato was unable to contest the win due to a crash right in front of him, around 10th place and right into the finishing straight. No major consequences were sustained by the Andalusian, with only small bruises, which allows the Movistar Team to focus on Saturday's queen stage -151km between McLaren Vale and the double Willunga climb- as Rubén Fernández starts the day in 9th overall (+15").