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Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) won stage 4 of Tirreno-Adriatico, fending off Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) and Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) in the uphill sprint in Tortoreto.
Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) took hold of the blue jersey after previous leader Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) was distanced with 2.5km remaining.
The finale was marred by a crash featuring stage favourite Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), who brought Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) down with him when he attempted to squeeze through a gap ahead of the final climb.
The stage concluded with three laps of a 17.1km circuit around Tortoreto and the race ignited on the first time up the finishing climb, when Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) accelerated with intent from the peloton.
Van Aert and Yates were the first riders to bridge up to the Frenchman at the summit, and only fifty or so riders remained in touch over the other side, including the blue jersey Ganna.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) were among the riders distanced, which doubtless encouraged Jumbo-Visma – who had all seven of their contingent in front – to maintain a brisk tempo. Van der Poel and Girmay fought their way back on during the next lap, only to be dropped again on the second ascent of the climb. They repeated that fightback on the final lap, though it was already apparent that the climb to the line was beyond their range.
More surprisingly, Pidcock lost contact with the front group on that penultimate ascent, even if the Briton also managed to scramble down the descent and latch back on in the closing kilometres, where he worked to keep Ganna placed at the head of the bunch before his late tangle with Van Aert.
Mercifully both riders were able to finish the stage, chatting amiably after they remounted and soft-pedalled towards the line.
A severely reduced peloton had taken the bell with 17.1km remaining, and the high speed on the last lap meant that there was little scope for attackers to forge clear before the final, 4.5km haul to the line.
Lorenzo Fortunato (Eolo-Kometa) and Damien Howson (Q36.5) attacked with 1.7km remaining, but they were swept up in the final kilometre, where Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) attempted to break clear.
Roglic first took up the reins with 400m before Victor Lafay (Cofidis) led out the sprint. The Slovenian proceeded to unleash a crisp effort in the final 200m to hit the front and hold off the fast-closing Alaphilippe.
More to follow…
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