Tuesday's stage 4 of the 2017 Vuelta a Espana from Escaldes to Tarragona, Spain was contested on a relatively flat route and the sprinters in the Vuelta peloton were hoping they would be able to fight for the stage victory at the end of the 198.3 kilometer ride.

A five-rider breakaway group formed in the first kilometers of the stage. Johan Le Bon (FDJ), Stephano Rossetto (Cofidis), Nick Schultz (Caja Rural), Diego Rubio (Caja Rural) and Juan Felipe Osorio (Manzano-Postobon) made up the escape. None of the five had mountain points at the start of the stage, and with only one category three climb offering a maximum of two points to the first over the top, the situation was ideal for Cannondale-Drapac's Davide Villella - leader of the mountains classification before and after the stage.

The breakaway gained a maximum advantage of 07:30 minutes. This advantage had been reduced to five minutes at the foot of the only climb of the stage. From there, the gap closed slowly but steadily with several teams contributing to the pace-making in the final thirty kilometers. The last of the breakaway riders was reeled in by the peloton eight kilometers from the finish line.

Trentin won the fierce and intensive sprint across the finish line ahead of Team Lotto NL-Jumbo's Juan Jose Lobato and Tom Van Asbroeck of Team Cannondale-Drapac. Chris Froome remains overall Vuelta leader following today's stage with David de la Cruz and Nicolas Roche both two seconds behind.

2017 Vuelta a Espana - Stage 4 results:
1    Matteo Trentin (Ita) Quick-Step Floors       04:43:57
2    Juan José Lobato (Spa) Team LottoNL-Jumbo         
3    Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Team Cannondale-Drapac         
4    Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo         
5    Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto-Soudal         
6    Sacha Modolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates         
7    Lorrenzo Manzin (Fra) Team FDJ         
8    Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb         
9    Youcef Reguigui (Alg) Dimension Data         
10    Jetse Bol (Ned) Manzana Postobon

2017 Vuelta a Espana - General classification following stage 4:
1    Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky Pro Cycling       13:37:41    
2    David de la Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors    0:00:02    
3    Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team         
4    Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team         
5    Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida    0:00:10    
6    Johan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Col) Orica-Scott    0:00:11    
7    Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team    0:00:38    
8    Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott    0:00:39    
9    Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale    0:00:48    
10    Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott

Order the gear you need for this season and beyond in our bike shop and subscribe to our training tracker service to track, plan and analyze your training and nutrition. Pro cyclists from Cannondale-Drapac, Orica-Scott and Dimension Data use our training tracker to win professional races such as the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana: Sign up now.