CYCLING – TEAM Bahrain Victorious rider Nicolo Buratti was in the top 10 yesterday in the fourth stage of the 80th La Vuelta a Espana, the third and final Grand Tour of the international cycling season.
The Italian was just a few metres behind winner Ben Turner of Ineos Grenadiers at the end of a bunch sprint to the finish. Turner completed the 206.7-kilometre leg – the longest of this year’s race – in four hours 50 minutes and 14 seconds.
Buratii’s teammates Santiago Buitrago from Colombia and countryman Antonio Tiberi finished 46th and 47th, respectively, yesterday, while Torstein Traen from Norway came 50th.
Rounding off the Bahrain Victorious cast were Finlay Pickering from Great Britain in 95th, Roman Ermakov of Russia in 131st, Mathijs Paasschens of the Netherlands in 132nd, and Jack Haig of Australia in 148th.
With yesterday’s results, Buitrago remained as Bahrain Victorious’ top-ranked rider on the race’s general classification. Tiberi, meanwhile, rose one position to ninth on the best young rider rankings.
Bahrain Victorious stayed seventh on the teams’ standings.
The 21-stage event continues today with leg five – a team time trial – set to cover 24.1km.
Britain’s Turner outfoxed Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in a sprint finish to win stage four, with Frenchman David Gaudu taking the leader’s red jersey from Jonas Vingegaard.
Philipsen looked well placed coming to the line at the end of the 206.7km ride from Susa in Italy to the French town of Voiron, tucked in behind compatriot and teammate Edward Planckaert, but Turner timed his move to perfection to win his first Grand Tour stage.
Planckaert finished third, while Gaudu, winner of stage three, is the overall leader, still level on time with race favourite Vingegaard but moving ahead of the Dane on the countback.
An exhausted and emotional Turner broke down in tears, with the Briton realising he had just pulled off the biggest win of his career, in a Grand Tour he was not expecting to race.
Turner was a late call-up by Ineos Grenadiers to the Vuelta, with the 26-year-old leaving the Renewi Tour on Thursday to replace the ill Lucas Hamilton, having impressed at the Tour de Pologne earlier in August, winning the points classification.
“I don’t know what to say to be honest, it was a crazy week, super crazy,” Turner said.
“I wanted to come to the Vuelta, and I still had some issues with my leg since the Giro, but the team believed in me and I went to Renewi and then they said they needed me, so of course you say ‘yeah’.”
The longest stage of this year’s race featured two category two climbs, and an early breakaway group were caught with 90km remaining, the peloton using the long descents to reel them in.
Frenchman Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) launched one final attack, going solo after the intermediate sprint with 32km left to race, but 15 kilometres from the end his solo move ended, teeing up the bunch sprint.
Philipsen had won the opening stage on Saturday, and led out by Planckaert, the Belgian appeared set for another triumph but seemed to get caught behind his teammate as Turner powered past at the uphill finish for a surprise victory.
“It’s just a crazy feeling. I was devastated in the first sprint when my chain came off, but I really believed in myself today,” Turner added.
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