American Ben King wins uphill finish from breakaway at La Vuelta

Ben King (Dimension Data) and breakaway companion Nikita Stalnov sprinted it out from the breakaway, behind Kwiatkowski limited his losses to retain the race lead

Stage 4 was another hot day in the saddle for the peloton over 36C, it saw riders like Peter Sagan taking on huge amounts of water all day to keep cool.

Nine riders went away in the breakaway including; Nikita Stalnov, Ben King, Ben Gastauer, Aritz Bagues , Oscar Cabedo Carda, Pierre Rolland, Lars Boom, Luis Angel Mate Mardones and Jelley Wallays. The breakaway's gap just went up and up, just over 10 minutes.

With 17 kms to go the breakaway riders knew they would stay away, behind Lotto NL Jumbo turned up the gas in the main peloton, which was reduced to around 40 riders as they neared the final climb.

Ahead, Ben King and Nikita Stalnov attacked the rest of the breakaway and opened up a 25 sec lead. Behind Pierre Rolland attacked the rest of the breakaway too, to chase the two leaders down.

In the main peloton, Simon Yates attacked and rode away, the rest of the favourites hestitated as Kwaitkowski failed to respond.

In the final kilometre Pierre Rolland nearly caught the two leaders, but Ben King attacked and sprinted across the line.

Behind, Valverde launched an attack in the final kilometre and Kwiatkowski upped the pace to limit his loses and retained the race lead.

Simon Yates put himself back into the race, just 10 secs down on GC with his late attack. Valverde just 12 secs behind.

The red leader's jersey is under threat and could change hands at any moment.

Tomorrow's Stage 5 is 188km from Granada to Roquetas de Mar, is rolling stage with the 2nd category Alto de Marchal at 1,010m high with 30 kms to go. This could break up the peloton and deny some of the Sprinters the chance to take the stage. The sprinters teams will have their work cut out to deliver the fast men to the front of the peloton in the finale.

Ben King said "I'm still in shock. It's a dream come true. It's been my goal for the last couple of years to win a grand tour stage. But even just to be here and have the opportunity to go in the breakaway today is an honour,  for the faith that the team put in me. We have been working really well together as a team and I've also been working really hard for this at home, so it's really affirming that it all worked out like this."

"I didn't think that the break had a chance to stay away, until 40km to go, and even then, there were really strong riders in the break with me. I just did not know how to expect to stack up with those guys. I just put myself in the right position to have the best chance possible and I hit them early at the bottom of the climb and then time-trialed to the top. I was able to out-kick Stalnov at the finish."

"It's no secret it has been a difficult season for the team this year but the atmosphere on the team is great. We believe in what we are doing and the potential of the team. We are motivated everyday by what the team is doing for Qhubeka, raising awareness and so to get a victory like this, I know that winning races contributes to more bikes being donated to Qhubeka so it's an honour to be racing for such a noble cause and certainly extra motivation for us."

VIDEO: 2018 La Vuelta Stage 4 GCN Analysis

2018 La Vuelta Stage 4 Top 10

1 Benjamin King (USA) Dimension Data 4:33:12 
2 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:02 
3 Pierre Rolland (Fra) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:00:13 
4 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:08 
5 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:39 
6 Jelle Wallays (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:57 
7 Oscar Cabedo Carda (Spa) Burgos BH 0:02:24 
8 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:48 
9 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:50 
10 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:03:07

2018 La Vuelta GC after Stage 4

1 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 13:47:19 
2 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:07 
3 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:10 
4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:12 
5 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:25 
6 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:30 
7 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:33 
8 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team   
9 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:37 
10 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:42