Things start to get serious at the Giro d'Italia in the fourth stage : 175 km from Venosa to Lago Laceno with 3 second-category GPMs and the finish line is only 3 kilometers from the end of Colle Molella . Infernal pace right from the early stages with the very small group climbing together on Passo delle Crocelle. The breakaway made up of Aurélien Paret-Peintre (AG2R Citroën Team), Nicola Conci (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Vincenzo Albanese (EOLO-Kometa), Warren Barguil (Team Arkéa Samsic), Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM), Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier and Tom Skujins (Trek – Segafredo) manages to start on the following descent and acquires a maximum advantage of 5'40”. The stage victory is played by the seven fugitives, Barguil, surprisingly, is the first to give up, while Skujins tries to take advantage. At -4km Andreas Leknessund made a decisive attack who managed to detach all his fellow breakaways with the exception of Paret-Peintre who came back near the top of Colle Molella. Paret-Peintre easily wins in the sprint while Leknessund finishes second and "settles" for the pink jersey, Albanese completes the podium. In the main group it is the Ineos-Grenadiers who set the pace, but nobody tries to sprint; the big names arrive all together at 2'. Leknessund now leads the general classification with 28" on Evenepoel and 30" on Paret-Peintre.

ARRIVAL ORDER:

1 PARET-PEINTRE Aurélien AG2R Citroën Team 4:16:04

2       LEKNESSUND Andreas Team DSM 0:02

3       ALBANIAN Vincenzo EOLO-Kometa Cycling Team 0:57

4       SKUJINS Toms Trek-Segafredo ,,

5       CONCI Nicola Alpecin-Deceuninck 1:02

6 GEBREIGZABHIER Amanuel Trek-Segafredo 1:07

7 BOUWMAN Koen Jumbo-Visma 2:01

8 CARUSO Damiano Bahrain-Victorius ,,

9 DUNBAR Eddie Team Jayco Alula ,,

10 VLASOV Aleksandr BORA-Hansgrohe ,,

GENERAL RANKING:

1         LEKNESSUND Andreas Team DSM 14:35:44

2          Evenepoel Remco Soudal - Quick Step 0:28

3          PARET-PEINTRE Aurélien AG2R Citroën Team 0:30

4          ALMEIDA Joao UAE Team Emirates 1:00

5          ROGLIČ Primož Jumbo-Visma 1:12

6          THOMAS Geraint INEOS Grenadiers 1:26

7         VLASOV Aleksandr BORA - hansgrohe ,,

8         SKUJIŅŠ Toms Trek - Segafredo 1:29

9        GEOGHEGAN HART Tao INEOS Grenadiers 1:30

10      VINE Jay UAE Team Emirates 1:36

Photo: Sprint Cycling Agency