Wout Poels handsome fourth in queen stage Tour of Catalonia, Almeida is the strongest | cycling

Without the sick Simon Yates, the fourth leg started. Several tough obstacles on the menu of the queen stage, with the Boí Taül of the first category as the final piece. Ben O’Connor started in the leader’s jersey and defended a minimal lead over the rest. No fewer than thirty riders were less than a minute from the leader before the start of the stage.

With Marc Soler, an interesting rider was part of the early break. Soler, 22nd in the standings 33 seconds behind classification leader O’Connor and teammate of Juan Ayuso (2nd in standings) and Almeida (9th) received the prize of fighting spirit for his efforts, but played no significant role in the final. Mark Donovan and Bruno Armirail were the last attackers left. On the final climb Armirail was passed by counter attacker George Bennett and UAE threw a new trump card on the table, but just like Soler without success.

Only Almeida and Ayuso were left for UAE to take the stage win. While Steven Kruijswijk and Sam Oomen no longer played a significant role, Poels showed his best side and the Limburger fought his way back to the front group of classification men, but he was unable to sprint for the win. Quintana seemed to have the best papers 100 meters from the finish and took the last corner as the best, but Almeida had a second gear in store and referred the Colombian to the closest place of honour. Quintana is the new leader, although Almeida is at the same time.

Poels climbs to sixth place in the standings. Oomen passed the top of the mountain in fourteenth place, 49 seconds behind the stage winner. Kruijswijk gave a little more time. De Brabander became 29th in more than a minute and a half. They are now 14th (Oomen) and 21st (Kruijswijk) in the ranking. The Tour of Catalonia lasts until Sunday.

_{View the ride results below.}