Moreno sprinted to the mountain top finish and left Chris Anker Sorenson to cross the line three seconds later. The Katusha rider only has one other Vuelta stage to his name, which came on stage 15 of the 2007 race.
Sorenson jumped the gap between the peloton and the breakaway, with 7km to go, and went straight passed them. Moreno was soon to follow and powered away from the main bunch and joined the Saxo Bank rider and Guillaume Bonnafond, who had latched on to Sorenson’s wheel. Bonnafond couldn’t keep up with the high pace and the pair just about managed to stay away.
Dan Martin was the first of the main group, continuing on his good form of recent months. Also in the main group were some of the big favourites; Michele Scarponi, Bradley Wiggins and Vincenzo Nibali. Igor Anton, however, failed to impress and lost 1 minute 38 on the leaders; he is now over a minute behind Wiggins in the GC.
Another big loser was HTC and Mark Cavendish, who decided to climb off his bike with 40km of riding left. The American outfit has already lost Matt Goss, who pulled out due to illness, and now they’ve lost their only chance of a jersey. Cavendish wasn’t ill, although, he had been severely distanced and hadn’t the energy to come back, but will want to keep his energy up for the world championships.
Sylvain Chavanel also got dropped on the final climb, but managed to stay close enough to take the red jersey. The Frenchman now holds 43 second lead over Moreno and Jakob Fuglsang, who is a further three seconds down. Pablo Lastras began the day in the leader’s jersey, after a brilliant solo ride, but crossed the line almost 20 minutes down on Moreno. Chavanel and the other riders will have a tough day in the saddle during stage 5, with two second category climbs and a lot of undulation. If the French champion can hold on to the jersey for this stage, he should keep hold of it for a few days.
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