Vuelta a Burgos: Barbero wins stage 4

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Carlos Barbero (Movistar) nabbed the fourth stage of the Vuelta a Burgos on Friday, outgunning Sky's Gianni Moscon and Quick-Step's Julian Alaphilippe at a short uphill finish.

The 26-year-old Burgos native timed his final kick to perfection. He allowed Moscon to open hostilities among the major stage favourites and then stayed patient as Alaphilippe countered before blowing past both of them in the final hundred metres to take a convincing victory on home turf at the line.

Moscon took second as Alaphilippe faded to third, while Sky's Mikel Landa arrived a few moments later to maintain his grip on the race leader's jersey.

Ben King (Dimension Data), Antoine Duchesne (Direct Energie), Etienne van Empel (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij) and Marcos Jurado (Burgos-BH) formed the main breakaway of the day almost immediately, quickly jumping clear after the start of the race in Bodegas Nabal.

The quartet worked their advantage up to a maximum of around four minutes, but a Team Sky-led pack tightened the leash to bring the gap down to just under three minutes, where it hovered for a while.

Around 80 kilometres into the 147-kilometre stage, the peloton began the work of reeling in the move, albeit very gradually. The escapees' advantage had dropped under two minutes with 55 kilometres to go, and it was down to under one minute with 40 kilometres left to the finish at the ruins of the Roman city of Clunia.

Van Empel soloed away from the break as the race approached the finish, hanging on as the last survivor of the move, but the race was all back together with 10 kilometres to go.

Quick-Step Floors, Movistar and Caja Rural joined Team Sky jostling for position at the front of the race in the closing kilometres as the road sloped upward in a short, punchy final climb, with Caja Rural leading into the last 500 metres.

Moscon jumped away about 300 metres from the finish line, initially getting a small gap before Alaphilippe pulled even. Barbero surged past both of them, however, crossing the line first to nab the win.

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