ROME 15 March 2021: Tadej Pogacar of the UAE-Team Emirates won stage 4 at Tirreno-Adriatico and took overall lead for the General Classification in Italy.
On the uphill arrival of Prati di Tivo (14.7km at 7 percent gradient), an attack at 7.5km from the finish and another dig at 6km allowed Pogacar to hold off Simon Yates (+6s, Team BikeExchange) and Sergio Higuita (+29s, Ef-Nippo), as well as jumping to the top of the general classification with a 35s advantage over Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).
Yates finished second, just a handful of seconds behind the Slovenian. The Brit had darted out of a chase group at one kilometer to go in an effort to bridge across to Pogacar after the Slovenian had ridden clear earlier in the climb.
Pogacar now moves into the leader’s jersey, with a 35-second lead over both van Aert and Higuita, who are level on time, said Wam.
“I tried to attack to stay alone and be able to set my pace,” he said. “When I saw that the advantage over my opponents was good, I pushed really hard to try and keep the gap, also because I knew Yates was coming close. I gave it my all and managed to win.
Wearing the blue jersey of the leader of the classification, Pogacar will face the next stage starting from Castellalto and arriving in Castelfidardo after 205km with a tough second half of the stage.
