Road: Astana in the Vuelta Stage 4

Stage 4

Day 4 ended with Yellow Jersey holder Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) crossing the line in Puertollano ahead of a bunch sprint that launched 180m from the finish. Tuesday's win is Bennati's fourth Vuelta stage win of his career. The previous stage's winner Boonen (Quick Step) grabbed 2nd while Koldo Fernandez took 3rd place.

Astana's highest place finisher was once again Alberto Contador who posted a time just 19 seconds shorts of that of Bennati's. We are early stages but Contador's tactics seem to be that of a crouching tiger, waiting to pounce on weak prey once the mountain stages begin. For these early flat stages, expect to see him not far off the back of the sprint finishes, so he doesn't lose much time, and despite not really being a time-trialist, Day 5's Time Trial will undoubtedly see him post a solid time that will keep him in-line with his 2 main rivals Sastre and Valverde.

GC after 4 days looks like this: