Barcelona: Great Britain's Ben Turner produced a sprint finish at the Vuelta a Espana to claim his first ever Grand Tour stage win. The Ineos Grenadiers rider triumphed in stage four, edging out Alpecin-Deceuninck's Belgian duo Jasper Philipsen and Edward Planckaert, with Englishman Ethan Vernon of Israel-Premier Tech finishing fourth on his 25th birthday.
According to BBC, Turner was a late call-up to the Vuelta, replacing Ineos team-mate Lucas Hamilton, who pulled out due to illness. He surged to victory on the long, rising finish. Philipsen initially appeared well-positioned behind his team-mate Planckaert but found himself boxed in as Turner and Vernon drew alongside. By the time Philipsen found space, it was too late to catch up with Turner.
This victory marked Turner's third professional win, and he was emotional as he crossed the finish line, securing the biggest win of his career. "Today I just had the best guys around me and I did what I had to do. It was the perfect finish for me and I really believed in what I could do on it," Turner said. He added that the last 100 meters felt lengthy and expressed disappointment over an earlier sprint issue but maintained confidence in himself.
The stage started in Italy and concluded in France, marking the fourth Vuelta stage held outside Spain. The race will move to Figueres on Wednesday for a 24.1-kilometer time trial.
Vuelta a Espana stage four results showed Turner leading with a time of 4hrs 50mins 14secs, followed by Philipsen and Planckaert. In the general classification after stage four, David Gaudu of Groupama-FDJ leads, with Jonas Vingegaard and Giulio Ciccone trailing closely.