Ruta del Sol 2019: Simon Yates wins Queen Stage, Jakob Fuglsang new leader

The Queen Stage of the Ruta del Sol is played out on a 120 kilometres route with four intermediate climbs. Simon Yates strikes on the last climb, while Tim Wellens loses the GC lead to Jakob Fuglsang. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 4th stage Ruta del Sol 2019

1. Simon Yates (gbr)
2. Sergio Higuita (col) + 0.26
3. Steven Kruijswijk (nld) s.t.
4. Adam Yates (gbr) s.t.
5. Ion Izagirre (spa) s.t.
6. Pello Bilbao (spa) s.t.
7. Jakob Fuglsang (den) s.t.
8. Aleksandr Vlasov (rus) + 1.20
9. Jack Haig (aus) s.t.
10. Héctor Carretero (spa) + 2.51

GC after stage 4
1. Jakob Fuglsang (den)
2. Ion Izagirre (spa) + 0.07
3. Steven Kruijswijk (nld) + 0.11
4. Pello Bilbao (spa) + 0.21
5. Adam Yates (gbr) + 0.57
6. Jack Haig (aus) + 1.08
7. Sergio Higuita (col) + 1.12
8. Aleksandr Vlasov (rus) + 1.43
9. Tim Wellens (bel) + 2.53
10. Dylan Teuns (bel) + 3.41

Race report
After the first climb, Alto de la Malahá, Esteban Chaves, Marco Canola, Iván García, Carlos Barbero, Nikolai Cherkasov, Alessandro Tonelli and Danny van Poppel jump clear to race to a lead of 1 minute and 30 seconds. Jorge Cubero, Cyril Barthe, Sergio Samitier and Txomin Juaristi chase them down and before tackling the Alto del Purche the gap has fallen below 1 minute.

On the climb the front group falls apart. Chaves pushes on with Van Poppel, Samitier, García and Cherkasov, but 2 kilometres before the summit they are also brought back by a reduced peloton.

Samitier gives it another go in solo style. On the penultimate climb Simon Yates, Pello Bilbao and LL Sánchez jump clear to try to chase him down, but the trio is brought back. Yates strikes again with Ion Izagirre. They gobble up Samitier to open up a smal gap.

LL Sánchez attacks with Jakob Fuglsang, while a group with Steven Kruijswijk, Jack Haig and Adam Yates bridges across. Leader Tim Wellens is dropped before a front group of some twenty riders tackle the Alto de Hazallanas.

Simon Yates heads out on his own on the Hazallanas. The chasing group is down to Fuglsang, Kruijswijk, Higuita, Adam Yates and Ion Izagirre, while the leader in the race reaches the summit 44 seconds before them.

Pello Bilbao rejoins the chasers on descent, while Yates solos to his first win in 2019.

Another interesting read: route Queen Stage 2019 Ruta del Sol.