Mads Pedersen made strides in the points classification as he claimed his third successive second-place finish for the race, though this time it was Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) that bested Pedersen on the punchy uphill finish in Laguardia.
On the previous two days it had been Sam Bennett (BORA-hansgrohe) who had beaten an impressive Pedersen in flat sprint finishes, but Pedersen clawed back points against the Irishman in a green jersey battle with Bennett not able to contest the hilly finish after puncturing during the race.
“The last climb with 20ks to go, 15, was pretty tough. The boys set a tempo at the bottom so I could survive the steep part. After that we just wanted to cruise in with the peloton after the top.
“We had a big gear on for the downhill so we could really gain speed and follow, and then we just hoped for the best on this last steep part there up to the finish.”
It was just Roglic who was able to jump away from Pedersen at the finish, the Dane trying to match him, but not having the sustained sprint of the Slovenian after the punchy climb.
“Clearly he was the strongest,” Pedersen said of Roglic. “To lose to him on a climb like this is okay. I hoped to do a top ten, so I am pretty happy with today’s result.
“I know I can do finals like this. It is tough in a peloton like this, but if you never try you never win.”
In the Vuelta, it’s often climbers that win the points classification, with Alejandro Valverde sharing the record for the most points jersey victories along with renowned sprinter Sean Kelly. However, Pedersen has his eyes fixed firmly on securing the jersey in Madrid.
“Today we tried and we finished second,” said Pedersen. “Again we got some points in the green jersey, so I think we can be pretty happy with today’s result.
“The shape is good. As I said, we are really here to win this green jersey, so every day we are aiming to get points.”
Green jersey incumbent Sam Bennett had an eventful day, contesting the intermediate sprint where he was just beaten by Pedersen after getting confused about the sprint’s location.
“We didn’t have markings to say how long it was to go [to the sprint] and then all of a sudden we were in the middle of the bunch and we saw the banner across the road,” Bennett said. “I think we didn’t even get out until 150 or 200 [metres] to go and it was just me trying to get through the gaps.
“Somebody hit my back wheel — a bit of panic set in trying to get out of the group, somebody clipped it or something like that. Then I had to get a wheel change.”
Bennett was caught by TV cameras moving to the rear of the peloton immediately after the sprint, gesturing towards his back wheel. Bennett then appeared to sit up once he got his bike change, allowing others to contest the finish.
“We only wanted the intermediate,” Bennett said. “Let Pedersen take the stage if he wanted, that didn’t matter. Just the intermediate today, limit the losses.”
Bennett won stages 2 and 3 of the Vuelta bringing his total tally at the race to five wins, beating Pedersen into second both times. He started stage 4 with an advantage of 37 points over the Dane, but ended the day just nine ahead.
The next closest in Pascal Ackermann 97 points behind Bennett, so it looks to be a battle between the pair at this point in the race with stages 11, 13, 16, 19 and 21 potentially suiting the sprinters.
La Vuelta continues tomorrow with a hilly course in prospect on Stage 5. Watch the race on SBS and SBS On Demand from 10:50pm (AEST).
