Van Eetvelt builds confidence in a tricky stage — but is he eyeing the pink jersey in stage five?

Many riders expected a tough day, but whether the sprinters would actually get dropped — that was another question entirely. Stage four of the Giro d'Italia was transformed into a quasi-mountain stage, thanks to Movistar's work on the Cozzo Tunno. It handed Lennert Van Eetvelt an unexpected opportunity, and the Belgian climber finished seventh in the reduced sprint in Cosenza — leaving him with a welcome boost of confidence.

Movistar's relentless tempo shattered almost every sprinter in service of their own fast man, Orluis Aular. The sprint in Cosenza came down to around forty riders, with Jhonatan Narváez of UAE Team Emirates-XRG the quickest of all. Van Eetvelt threw himself into the sprint and came home seventh — another strong performance to follow his impressive stage two showing alongside Vingegaard.

That he was even in contention for a stage win was itself a surprise to the Belgian climber. "Today was not one of the stages I had circled," he said on the team's website. "The race was very nervous at the start, and with the wind that was forecast, we had agreed beforehand not to worry about potential echelon splits and just sit quietly towards the back. But obviously: if I don't have to drop back, I'm not going to."

The 24-year-old Belgian is not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. As the kilometres ticked by, he saw his opportunity growing. "On the climb — which was, by the way, much harder than expected; I hadn't thought for a moment that the sprinters would survive it — everything got shaken up and I could calmly move my way to the front." There was less welcome news for Lotto-Intermarché elsewhere: Arnaud De Lie was forced to abandon the race.

Van Eetvelt is still very much in the mix, though. His strong results in the opening days have him seventh in the general classification, just ten seconds behind pink jersey holder Giulio Ciccone. And stage five looks like it could suit him well: a hilly day with 3,700 metres of climbing. The GC was not his stated objective — but when a chance like that presents itself...

Will he quietly adjust his ambitions over the coming days, with that pink jersey in mind? "The chance of the pink jersey naturally gets smaller by the day," Van Eetvelt acknowledged. "I came here for a stage win, not so much for the general classification. We're taking it day by day — starting with tomorrow, which is going to be tough again."