Tadej Pogacar produced another peerless performance as he soloed to victory from 50km from the finish on the mountainous fourth stage of the Vuelta a Espana.
The Slovenian, who is riding the Vuelta for only the second time in his career and for the first time in seven years, was the overwhelming pre-race favourite and had been widely expected to put the competition to bed in the opening week.
Stage three's cancellation due to severe hailstorms prevented him from making a late raid on the final climb to Font Romeu and delivering that statement of intent.
But he made up for lost time on stage four, attacking on the second of three category-one climbs, the Collada de Beixalis. None of his rivals had any response to his acceleration on the 6.5km, 8.5% climb, and they were left scrapping among themselves for the minor places over the remaining 50km.
Victory in Andorra la Vella marked his longest solo victory at a grand tour, at the only one of the three which he is left to win, and his second in four days, having claimed victory and the leader's jersey on stage one's individual time trial.

#victory #stage #time