Tour Colombia: Jungels wins stage 4

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Luxembourg champion Bob Jungels has been at the head of the peloton in all the final sprints of the Tour Colombia, working for Deceuninck-Quickstep teammate Alvaro Hodeg, but finally on stage 4, as multiple attacks disrupted proceedings in the final kilometres, Jungels seized control with a last minute attack to steal the stage victory by three seconds.

Mihkel Räim (Israel Cycling Academy) tried to go with Jungels but missed the train, coming in just ahead of Julian Alaphilippe who was busy celebrating the win of his Deceuninck-Quickstep teammate.

"With a group of almost only climbers I always had a chance in a final like this," Jungels said. "Yesterday I tried to pull the sprint for Julian so today we said OK I would try for myself. We found it was perfect and it worked out. I'm just happy the team is doing so well and I could take my first victory here."

Mulitple moves went clear in the last 10km from a peloton already much reduced by the hilly circuit, with Rodrigo Contreras (Astana) among the most active, but it looked to be a reduced bunch sprint as the peloton went under the 1km to go banner.

Then, Jungels looked to be stringing out the bunch for Alaphilippe but just powered away instead, taking an emphatic win and the overall lead - now by two seconds over Alaphilippe with EF Education First's Rigoberto Uran, Dani Martinez and Lawson Craddock tied for third at four seconds.

"After the TTT we were very close, I'm also super happy to have [the jersey] but I have to be very honest with you, the next two days are going to be very hard to defend it," Jungels admitted. "I am more than happy with one stage victory for myself. Of course we will honour the jersey and try to defend it, but I think there are stronger climbers here than me."

How it unfolded

Stage 4 in Colombia was a 144km circuit race that saw the peloton race six laps on a tricky course in the heart of Medellin. A small category 4 climb 10.9km into the 24km circuit didn't cause too much trouble for the sprinters.

Time bonuses three seconds, two seconds and one second were offer during the stage at three intermediate sprints at the end of laps one, three and five. The typical time bonuses of 10, six and four seconds were up for grabs at the finish. Riders collected KOM points on the climb during laps two and four.

Astana's Miguel Angel Lopez shot out of the blocks like a missile in search of the three second time bonus at the end of the lap one, attacking early and holding off the bunch to tak the top prize ahead of Colombia's Juan Arango and Miguel Angel Rubiano (Coldeportes Zenú).

The race for the intermediate sprint forced a group of six free from the peloton 36km into the day. In the group were Lopez, Arango and Rubiano, along with Daniel Jaramillo (Manzana Postobon), Fredy Montana (EPM) and Bayron Guamá (Ecuador).

At the first KOM of the day on lap 2, Arango took maximum points ahead of Jaramillo and Lopez. The gap grew to 2:10 60km into the race. Lopez, who started the day 22 seconds behind race leader Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First), kept the pressure on for the intermediate sprints, collecting another three-seconds bonus on lap 3 for a total of six seconds to that point. One more sprint remained on lap 5.

Arango took top honours at the KOM on lap 4, but by then the leaders' gap had been whittled down to just 1:22 over the bunch. The leaders started lap five with 1:07 over the peloton, which was being led by Uran's EF Education First team.

Arango denied Lopez the maximum bonus on the final intermediate sprint, although the Astana leaders grabbed two for second, followed by Rubiano in third.

The leaders started te final lap with 1:08 over the field, and Movistar and Team Sky came to the front to help EF chasing down Lopez' dangerous move. The added help made the difference, and the break was caught with 10km to go.

Attacks started flying immediately from there.

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