TADEJ POGACAR EXECUTES 50KM SMASH AND GRAB SOLO RAID, TAKES THREE MINUTE OVERALL LEAD
Seven years since Tadej Pogacar took his very first Grand Tour stage win in Andorra, the Slovenian took his 36th.
On the penultimate climb of the day, 50km from the finish, the Slovenian executed the sort of attack he has done many times before, but never before from so far out in a stage race.
After going solo, Pogacar gradually built his lead, limiting it to three minutes, though it could have gone higher, and cruised to the finish with the general classification all but sewn up.
The 2026 edition’s Andorra outing was the shortest Vuelta stage since Pogacar’s aforementioned maiden victory in the Pyrenean principality in 2019. The same result, only more brutal, was the expected outcome.
If any other team imagined they might be allowed a morsel, UAE Team Emirates XRG disavowed them of that notion from the start of the 104km of up-and-down.
Although the team of the race leader was happy to let a large group, containing such luminaries as Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Eddie Dunbar (Pinarello Q36.5), and Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana) up the road, they were never likely to let the gap grow to a winning margin.
‘Oh here we go!’ – Pogacar attacks with 50km to go on Stage 4
Video credit: TNT Sports
Felix Gall’s Decathlon CMA CGM was apparently even more determined to keep them pegged back, the French team ensuring their leader was no more than 20 seconds from the front of the race by the top of the long first climb of the day.
That difference disappeared on the descent, and with 60km remaining, the red jersey group was in charge.
Gall must have had designs on an attack, but Pogacar was not going to permit it. At the foot of the second category 1 climb, he asked team-mate Jay Vine to go to the front and raise the tempo. When Vine began to flag, Pogacar made his move.
Gall was the only rider willing or able to stay with him, but even he knew better than to die trying. The Austrian let the wheel go less than a kilometre later, and drifted back to the group of riders, led by Primoz Roglic, set to do battle for the podium places and top 10.
Pogacar set to the task of building an insurmountable lead, capping it at three minutes, over the summit of Coll d’Ordino, where he also secured the mountains jersey.
Riders rose and fell into and out of the chase group behind. Gall looked to be in difficulty, Sepp Kuss seemed comfortable – and Primoz Roglic was Primoz Roglic.
‘It’s looking good’ – Pogacar on prospects of wearing red jersey from start to finish
Video credit: TNT Sports
By the time the eventual six-rider group were riding into town, Pogacar was already warming down on his turbo trainer.
The surprise and standout performance of the day came from Grand Tour debutant, Jarno Widar (Lotto Intermarche).
The Belgian rode within himself on the climbs, even when he lost contact with the second leaders, before making his way back to them. He preserved his powers, and had enough left to out-sprint all of them for second place, and move up into the overall top 10.
Just four stages in, the Vuelta cannot be over, but it’s not too early to say that, barring accident or incident, Tadej Pogacar will achieve the Grand Tour Grand Slam.
Four-time champion Roglic, without a contract for next year or the preparation coming in he’d have hoped for, finds himself in second place, with Enric Mas rounding out the current podium.
Oscar Onley will wear the white jersey of best young rider on stage 5, as the Vuelta arrives in Spain for the first time.