Ejea de los Caballeros (Spain) (AFP)

After his compatriot Dan Martin on Thursday, the Irishman Sam Bennett won in the sprint the 4th stage of the Tour of Spain on Friday between Garray and Ejea de los Caballeros (north-east), where the Slovenian Primoz Roglic remained leader.

After three first hilly stages, the fourth, contested in Aragon on a flat 191 km course, was promised to the sprinters.

Sam Bennett, 30, did not pass up the opportunity to afford the third victory of his career at the Vuelta after the two conquests in 2019.

He beat the Belgian Jasper Philipsen (UAE) and the Italian Jakub Mareczko (CCC).

One of the other favorites for the sprint, the German Pascal Ackermann (Bora) finished just behind the trio (4th).

"The final was very quick. Very nervous. We did the job perfectly. In the last corner we got a bit locked in. Philipsen anticipated. I thought I was not going to catch him, but I 've managed to recreate speed, "said Bennett at the end of the stage.

For his part, Primoz Roglic preferred to manage his red jersey during this transition stage before a weekend launched towards the Pyrenees.

“We had to stay focused. There was a lot of backwind. It was very nervous and fast. It was a bit scary. You mustn't make mistakes on a stage like that. But hey, it's still a day in red, ”explained the Slovenian, second in the last Tour de France.

The race was animated by a breakaway from the first kilometer.

Four riders, Briton Harry Tanfield (AG2R La Mondiale), Spaniards Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) and Jesus Ezquerra (Burgos-BH), and South African Willem Smit (Burgos-BH), counted up to four minutes in advance.

The group then broke up.

Smit unleashed his companions with Tanfield in his wheel.

Ezquerra and Mate were caught by the peloton before Tanfield and then Smit suffered the same fate in the last fifteen kilometers.

The Deceuninck team then moved to the forefront in the last kilometers, disputed wind in the back and in slight descent, to place Sam Bennett ideally.

Jasper Philipsen started the sprint from a distance before finally being passed over the line by Bennett.

- Amputated Pyrenees -

After this parenthesis in the plain, it is the mountains that await the runners this weekend.

The fifth stage between Huesca and Sabinanigo goes up to the Pyrenees on Saturday and includes a big piece with the Alto de Petralba, a climb of 8.7 kilometers at 5.2% average.

The peloton will however be deprived of a finish at the Col du Tourmalet on Sunday during the 6th stage.

A change of program due to "the state of health emergency decreed in France and the general restrictions established by its national government" announced Thursday the organization of the Vuelta.

The two French departments (Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Hautes-Pyrénées), whose peloton was to take the roads, are indeed part of the 38 new departments where the curfew will be extended on Friday evening.

This stage, which was to be the high point of the 2020 edition, will always start from Biescas in the Aragonese Pyrenees but will now end at the Aramon Formigal ski resort.

"The situation is very hard all over the world because of the coronavirus. We have to accept this change (of course). We are still lucky to be able to give people a little hope and to be able to run," said Roglic after today's stage.

© 2020 AFP