A stage dominated by a long climb early in the day, before a punchy drag to the line; the bunch was set for an intriguing day out on the fourth day of racing at Tirreno – Adriatico. A break managed to escape early in the day and the peloton kept them close originally but once over the main climb their advantage ballooned. Heading into the final ten kilometres those ahead still held onto a good advantage so a fierce chase followed in the bunch, where Team dsm-firmenich PostNL rallied around Kevin Vermaerke for the punchy finale, bringing him into position for the uphill kick. The last two kilometres were a real grind and fight in the group, as they just caught the break in sight of the line, while Vermaerke gave all he had and led the team home at the finish.
Vermaerke expressed: “I think we expected it to be harder on the kicker up to the finish and also the climb in the last 20 kilometres wasn’t ridden as selectively as we thought it might have been. As a result, a lot of the sprinters were still there. It was already a really hectic fight from 60 kilometres to go and the guys did a good job to position me and set me up for the final. All of the guys really contributed which was nice, with Romain, Chris and John all really around me in the last 15 kilometres to help with the positioning. I was a little bit too much in the mix on the last kicker though and there were a lot of close calls and touching wheels in the bunch. I came around the last corner in around the top 15 I think, but just didn’t have the kick to really go for a top result in the end. I’m glad everyone is safely through today and we’re really looking forward to the GC fight in the next couple of days.”