Late breakaway nearly wins the day at Giro Next Gen stage 4, but well-timed move provides upset

The fourth stage of the Giro Next Gen was won by Matteo Fiorin. The young Italian from Solme - Olmo - Arvedi was the fastest in a reduced bunch sprint and surprised top favourite Davide Donati (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe). Visma | Lease a Bike also had a contender in Aldo Tailleu, but they saw the Belgian abandon.

The Giro Next Gen had already produced three exciting stages. Early breakaway rider Kasper Haugland just held off the peloton in the opening stage, before the sprinters came to the fore in stage two. There, Davide Donati was the fastest, but stage three brought more climbing work. Jasper Schoofs won that stage, but what would day four bring?

That was still very much the question. The fast men saw their chance at the flat finish, but the hills before the finish in Corato could still make things difficult. Castel del Monte had to be tackled twice, although that hill was not overly hard. Even so, it looked as though it could go either way.

Somewhat surprisingly, no effort was put into an early breakaway, meaning the race got underway from Matera with the full peloton. There were attacks, but halfway through the race no one had managed to get clear. Mirko Bozzola (S.C. Padovani Polo Cherry Bank) was the first to open up a small gap. He was joined by Leonardo Vesco

Meanwhile, there was an ugly crash, involving among others the white jersey wearer Matvey Boldyrev (UAE Team Emirates), but all those involved were able to continue. It was not the only incident, as there were more crashes on the Italian roads. Earlier, Aldo Tailleu (Visma | Lease a Bike) had to abandon the race. He had finished second in stage two and was one of the favourites for the stage win.

The hilly section in the finale sparked a new wave of attacks. At the foot of the final ascent of Castel Del Monte, there were three leaders: Matthew Dodd (Netcompany INEOS), Marco Martini (Team Technipes) and Jesper Stiansen (Tudor). The first-named Brit was particularly dangerous, just 13 seconds down on Schoofs in the pink jersey.

Schoofs was having a rough moment at that point. He had to change bikes. First, he received a bike from a teammate, and it took a long time before he could continue on a completely new steed. Fortunately, he was able to return, after which his team - together with Visma | Lease a Bike, Decathlon CMA CGM and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe - began the chase.

On the final climb, Dodd proved the strongest: he picked up some mountain points and took over the mountains jersey, although that was not his main aim. On his own, he hoped to land a double success, but his lead was not large. NSN began to lend a hand in the chase, causing the Brit’s effort to come to nothing in the final five kilometres.

The peloton had been thinned out, which gave attackers chances. Still, nobody could get clear, allowing Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe to bring back Donati in the red jersey. An attack in the final kilometre from Nicolò Pizzi (Technipes) almost prevented a sprint, but it was Matteo Fiorin (Solme - Olmo - Arvedi) who was surprisingly the strongest, ahead of Pizzi and Donati.