After 140.4km of racing it came down to mere millimetres at the finish in Villafranca Tirrena for stage 4 of the 2020 Giro d'Italia. French champion Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) went to the line with Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Davide Ballerini (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and took the win in a bike throw, his 11th victory of the season.
The three-time world champion, who has not won since July 2019 would finish second but came away with the points classification lead. Ballerini secured the third podium spot from the fray.
In the closing 200 metres, Sagan was the first to hit the afterburners, with Démare going to the left of him and Ballerini to the right. The threesome came together on the line and Démare won it by the tightest of margins.
Behind that line of three, Andrea Vendrame (AG2R la Mondiale) was fourth and Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis had to settle for fifth.
Race leader João Almeida (Deceuninck-Quickstep) had his own sprint excitement, taking two seconds at the time bonus prime in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto to pull clear ahead of stage 3 winner Jonathan Caicedo (EF Pro Cycling) in the overall standings.
Watch the stage 4 highlights from the Giro d'Italia above.
