Yates retains Tour of the Alps lead as Bilbao wins stage four

Spaniard Pello Bilbao won a three-man sprint to take the mountainous fourth stage of the Tour of the Alps on Thursday as Briton Simon Yates kept the race lead going into the final day

Bahrain Victorious's Bilbao edged Russian Aleksandr Vlasov of Astana with Yates, riding for Bike Exchange, third in the 'queen stage' of this year's race from Naturno to Pieve di Bono in northern Italy.

Vlasov and Yates crested the day's last peak seven kilometres from the finish and looked set to duel for victory.

But the 31-year-old Basque rider caught the leaders with a breakneck steep and technical descent and took the lead in the sprint to the finish.

Colombian Nairo Quintana finished fourth as the former Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana winner gears up for his Tour de France bid.

Bilbao moved up to second overall nearly a minute behind Yates with Ineos Grenadier's Pavel Sivakov, the defending champion, losing time on the final climb to slip to fifth overall.

"I tried to stay safe on the descent, Bilbao is an excellent descender," said Yates who is building towards the Giro which starts in just over two weeks. 

"From a general classification point of view it was a good day. Anything can happen but we will try our best tomorrow and see from there."

Four-time Tour champion Chris Froome who has struggled this week was part of a long breakaway with eight other riders during the 168.6km stage which featured three climbs.

The Israel Start Up Nation rider's group built up nearly two minutes on the peloton before being caught at the foot of the final 10km Boniprati climb.

Froome is 98th overall, 27 minutes adrift of the leader, ahead of Friday's final stage over 120.9km to Lake Garda.

VIDEO: 2021 Tour of the Alps Stage 4 Highlights

2021 Tour of the Alps Stage 4 Top 10

1          Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain Victorious            4:39:42
2          Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana Premier Tech
3          Simon Yates (GBr) Team BikeExchange
4          Nairo Quintana (Col) Arkea-Samsic   00:00:58
5          Jefferson Cepeda (Ecu) Androni-Sidermec     00:01:06
6          Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education Nippo
7          Ruben Guerreiro (Por) EF Education Nippo   00:01:16
8          Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R Citroën
9          Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
10        Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe  00:01:22

2021 Tour of the Alps GC after Stage 4

1          Simon Yates (GBr) Team BikeExchange        15:31:48
2          Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain Victorious            00:00:58
3          Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana Premier Tech 00:01:06
4          Jefferson Cepeda (Ecu) Androni-Sidermec     00:02:18
5          Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Ineos Grenadiers            00:02:37
6          Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education Nippo    
7          Nairo Quintana (Col) Arkea-Samsic   00:02:54
8          Ruben Guerreiro (Por) EF Education Nippo   00:03:12
9          Romain Bardet (Fra) Team DSM
10        Nick Schultz (Aus) Team BikeExchange        00:03:36