La Vuelta (et. 4)
Fabio Jakobsen (DQT) wins again at a Grand Tour following his horror crash in 2020, as race leader Taaramäe (IWG) goes down near the end yet keeps red. Mas, López, Valverde still 5th, 6th and 7th.
The crosswinds threat on the 164km stage four of the 2021 La Vuelta, from El Burgo de Osma in Soria to Guadalajara’s Molina de Aragón, didn’t materialize even if those gusts added some stress on the second half of the day. Fabio Jakobsen (DQT) took his first GT win following his horrible crash last year, as Rein Taaramäe (IWG) conserved the race leader’s ‘La Roja’ despite an incident with 2km to go.
The Movistar Team had an uneventful day, with Jacobs, Erviti, Rojas, Verona and Oliveira carefully, attentively covering Enric Mas, Miguel Ángel López and Alejandro Valverde. The Telefónica-backed squad’s three main names stay in fifth, sixth and seventh overall before another flat route through the central plains of the country -184km from Tarancón to Albacete-, a terrain where winds have played a factor in previous times.
REACTION / Enric Mas:
“Having shared teams with Jakobsen and knowing him well as a person, even it it’d be already so nice to see someone like him winning after all he’s gone through, it makes me even more happy to see him triumph. When it comes to the stage, though, it was still really hard. You may not see the stress on TV, yet it was really tense out there, and the last 60-70 kilometers were fast and difficult.
“The 3” I took yesterday could be many or too few, it will just depend on the final outcome. I don’t know if they will serve any purpose, but the most important thing which I keep with me after yesterday’s is that we were three at the top with the main contenders, and we were so happy about our performance. I’m feeling well; after the Tour, I had time to rest, trained well between the two Grand Tours – and let’s see how the race goes, hopefully I don’t feel tired during the final days with the Tour on my legs. For the team, having us three up there so far is really good.“
Cover picture (c): Photo Gomez Sport
- 01 Fabio Jakobsen Deceuninck - Quick Step 3h43'07"
- 02 Arnaud Démare Groupama-FDJ "
- 03 Magnus Cort EF Education-NIPPO "
- 21 Miguel Ángel López Movistar Team "
- 26 José Joaquín Rojas Movistar Team "
- 31 Alejandro Valverde Movistar Team "
- 39 Enric Mas Movistar Team "
- 87 Johan Jacobs Movistar Team "
- 134 Imanol Erviti Movistar Team "
- 154 Nelson Oliveira Movistar Team "
- 169 Carlos Verona Movistar Team "
- 01 Rein Taaramäe Intermarché-Wanty Gobert 13h08'51"
- 02 Kenny Elissonde Trek-Segafredo +25"
- 03 Primoz Roglic Jumbo - Visma +30"
- 05 Enric Mas Movistar Team +45"
- 06 Miguel Ángel López Movistar Team +51"
- 07 Alejandro Valverde Movistar Team +57"
- 80 José Joaquín Rojas Movistar Team +9'23"
- 94 Carlos Verona Movistar Team +10'48"
- 106 Imanol Erviti Movistar Team +12'44"
- 124 Nelson Oliveira Movistar Team +14'52"
- 177 Johan Jacobs Movistar Team +23'41"