A beautiful day for Lotto Dstny in the fourth stage of the Vuelta a España. Lennert Van Eetvelt never got in trouble in the first mountain stage. The 23-year-old climber of Lotto Dstny just missed out on the victory. Sylvain Moniquet conquered the mountain jersey after a day in the breakaway.
After a Portuguese start of this year’s Vuelta, the peloton rode on Spanish roads. A breakaway of 5 riders coloured the first mountain stage of 170 kilometers, with Sylvain Moniquet. On top of the Puerto de Cabezabellosa and Alto de Piornal, Moniquet took the full amount of mountain points, while their advantage was around three minutes.
On the final climb, the Pico Villuercas with steep parts up against 20%, everyone of the break was taken back and in the bunch the best climbers came in the picture. Lennert Van Eetvelt never came in difficulties and climbed towards the finish with Primož Roglič and Enric Mas. With some riders coming back in the end, a sprint with seven would decide for the victory. Van Eetvelt sprinted strongly, but just in front of the finish line Roglič (Red Bull – BORA – Hansgrohe) jumped over him.
“I’m really happy with my form, that I’m able to play for the victory here. I didn’t have an easy period the last months with my knee problems, so I’m really satisfied that I’m back at the level I had in the beginning of the year. At the other hand I’m also a bit sad of course to miss out on the victory, but other chances will follow this Vuelta”, the 23-year-old Van Eetvelt said. “Today was the first test, I’m super happy of where I am. I came here to try to go for a good general classification, this gives confidence.”
Sylvain Moniquet conquered the mountain jersey after his fantastic day in the breakaway. “It was a really hard day, I’m super satisfied to be able to wear the mountain jersey. It wasn’t the goal to take it, as we are here to go for a nice GC with Lennert. But this morning I got some breakaway tips of Thomas (De Gendt) and with the beautiful climbs and my good legs I went for it. We will take it day by day.”
