Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) was one of the big name protagonists on the fourth stage of the Vuelta a España to the top of Sierra Nevada. The defending race champion but in a brief attack himself midway up the climb, and put his team to work when it became clear that a number of riders, most notably Igor Antón (Euskaltel-Euskadi), were in trouble.
“I can put today’s stage in the archives with a smile,” said the Sicilian after the stage. “Apart from the heat, the difficulty of the race was a finish above 2000 metres. There were all the ingredients for creating gaps, so on the final climb, we decided to try and put our adversaries on the ropes.”
Although Antón lost a lot of time, most of the other overall race contenders finished in the main group alongside Nibali. The Liquigas-Cannondale rider is not worried by this though, but plans to be patient over the three-week race.
“Last year’s win taught me how to build an overall success day by day, and second by second,” he explained. “Today I felt good. Capecchi did a great job at the head of the group to help me and we’ve stepped up on GC. I’m not dreaming though, there are so many climbs to come; they will decide how the race goes.
“Nobody is out of contention,” he warned. “Even Anton still has time and terrain to recover. My goal is to be the most regular and consistent. Tomorrow, there is another tricky stage.”
Nibali now sits in fifth place, just 53 seconds behind new race leader Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step), but is the best placed of all the favourites thanks to Liquigas-Cannondale’s team time trial performance on stage one. Disappointed to miss out on victory in his home tour, the Giro d’Italia in May, ‘the shark’ is well placed for a successful Vuelta defence.