Vuelta a Colombia’s stage four sees Sevilla take lead
The Vuelta a Colombia is the biggest cycling race of August. Fourteen stages over the course of 15 days span the mountainous South American nation. The 117km fourth stage of the race was held on Wednesday, 4 August. Oscar Sevilla retook the overall race leadership when his team, Indeportes Antioquia, took a one-two finish at the end of the stage.
“Today I was really motivated. I’m very happy to win the stage with my teammate, Sergio Luis Henao,” said Sevilla. “He’s young but he’s a great talent.”
Tuesday’s stage three was a rare flat stage for the Tour – the organizers made a point of including more sprint opportunities in the 60th edition than they were known for. Jairo Perez sprinted for a solo stage win 11 seconds ahead of the runner-up and 2:09 ahead of the peloton. Sevilla, who had taken over the race in the second stage, was relegated to third place.
"I felt good in this kind of stage because it's perfect for me," said Perez. "In this stage I went really hard. Yesterday I tried as well but there were really strong riders, but today I went in the break and won."
Team Indeportes made up for their stage three mistakes, with the stage four win going to Sergio Luis Henao, his second after stage one, and Sevilla finishing the stage on his shoulder, 33 seconds ahead of Félix Cárdenas and Javier González.
“In the last kilometer I was surprised because I pushed it and saw that Cárdenas and González were suffering and couldn’t keep up with us,” said Sevilla. “We pushed it full gas to the line.”
It was the first taste of mountainous riding in the Colombian tour, with three categorized climbs and an uphill finish. The 2009 Vuelta a Colombia winner set the pace after the early breakaway was caught on the first climb, and the work of his team left the Perez behind in the leader’s jersey. Rujano took the climbing points on the second summit, then fell back into the peloton. The four stage leaders took the front of the race in the Bucaramanga valley, with a gap of nine seconds at the start of the final climb.
Sevilla and Henau took to the lead on the climb and won the day. Sevilla stands in first place overall but holds the same time as Deliver Opine, in second only because Sevilla finished the most recent stage ahead of Opine. Indeportes Antioquia team includes three of the top five riders overall. Henao stands in third place, four seconds behind Sevilla and Opine, while teammate Jannier Acevedo stands in fourth, 1:09 behind.
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