Jan Polanc held off the challenge of the peloton to claim victory on stage four of the Giro d’Italia, while Bob Jungels took the leader’s pink jersey on an exciting finale up Mount Etna in Sicily.
Having led almost from the start, the Slovenian held a three-minute advantage over the rest of the field going into the last 5km but that was steadily reduced as some of the big contenders for the general classification gave chase. The two-time Giro champion Vicenzo Nibali and pre-race favourite, Nairo Quintana, were both in contention to assume the overall lead but it was left to Ilnur Zakarin to attempt to chase Polanc to the line.
The Russian closed to within 19 seconds as they approached the finish but the 25-year-old Polanc just held on to claim a first ever Grand Tour stage win for UAE Team Emirates.
Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas came in third with Nibali and Quintana in the main chasing pack, with Jungels of Luxembourg taking the overall lead, six seconds ahead of Thomas and 10 ahead of Adam Yates in third.
