Etxebarria wins stage 4

Venezuela's Unai Etxebarria of the Euskaltel team won the fourth stage of the Vuelta a Espana on Tuesday after a brave solo breakaway in the final kilometres of the 151-km ride from Santander to Burgos. ONCE-Eroski rider Isidro Nozal snatched the yellow l

Eurosport

Image credit: TNT Sports

Under grey and at times rainy skies, Etxebarría attacked from a group of eight breakaway riders with 15 km to go. His brave solo attempt initially appeared doomed, yet the Venezuelan persevered and finished 44 seconds ahead of his Euskaltel-Euskadi team mate David Etxebarría of Spain. Colombian Felix Cardenas was third.

"With David in the break it was much easier," Etxebarría said after his victory. "He could control the other riders."

Spaniard Isidro Nozal of the ONCE-Eroski team, also involved in the break, became the new race leader, finishing comfortably ahead of his team mate Rodriguez.

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"I hope to hold on to the leader's jersey at least as far as the time trial in Zaragoza on Thursday," he said. "Then my team leader Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano could take over again."

Stage five, a 166.7-km ride from Soria to Zaragoza, is another mainly flat stage and shouldn't disrupt the order of the general classifications. Follow Wednesday's fifth stage live from 13:45 CET on eurosport.com/.co.uk.

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