Tour of Valencia 2023: Geoghegan Hart wins mountain top sprint, Ciccone still leader

image: Cor VosA reduced peloton sprint for the stage victory in the last mountain stage of the Tour of Valencia. Tao Geoghegan Hart charges for the line and wins bike lengths ahead of Thomas Gloag and Giulio Ciccone. The Italian keeps the leader's jersey. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 4th stage 2023 Tour of Valencia

1. Tao Geoghegan Hart (gbr)
2. Thomas Gloag (gbr) s.t.
3. Giulio Ciccone (ita) s.t.
4. Aleksandr Vlasov (rus) s.t.
5. Mikel Landa (spa) s.t.
6. Pello Bilbao (spa) s.t.
7. Rui Costa (por) s.t.
8. Anton Palzer (ger) s.t.
9. Carlos Rodriguez (spa) s.t.
10. Diego Ulissi (ita) s.t.

GC after stage 4
1. Giulio Ciccone (ita)
2. Tao Geoghegan Hart (gbr) + 0.04
3. Pello Bilbao (spa) + 0.07
4. Aleksandr Vlasov (rus) + 0.08
5. Thomas Gloag (gbr) s.t.
6. Rui Costa (por) + 0.14
7. Mikel Landa (spa) s.t.
8. Alex Aranburu (spa) + 0.20
9. Anthon Charmig (den) s.t.
10. Carlos Rodriguez (spa) s.t.

Race report
Cristian Scaroni and Orluis Aular jump clear after 10 kilometres. They open a 1 minute gap, but the peloton keeps chasing to bring it down. The catch is made just before the climb to Aín, although Scaroni pushes on alone. A group of 22 riders joins him, among them Bauke Mollema, Thymen Arensman, David de la Cruz, Alessandro De Marchi, Wout Poels, Georg Zimmermann, Omar Fraile and Daniel Navarro. The attackers put almost 4 minutes into the peloton.

The lead group shrinks to 16 riders in the first ascent of the Montmayor before Arensman goes solo in the last 55 kilometres. His former companions are reeled in with 22 kilometres to go, while Arensman is caught after the intermediate sprint, where Vlasov gains 2 bonus seconds.

The race finishes uphill, but it’s a low gradients climb to the line. A group of twenty riders remains together before Tao Geoghegan Hart takes a commanding sprint victory ahead of young Thomas Gloag and race leader Giulio Ciccone. The Italian stays in yellow, 4 seconds ahead of the stage winner with Pello Bilbao another 3 seconds down in third.

Another interesting read: route 4th stage 2023 Tour of Valencia.