Cummings solos to victory in stage 4 of Tirreno-Adriatico
Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) went from team player to stage winner after a strong ride into Foligno on stage 4 of Tirreno-Adriatico. Cummings attacked his escape group inside the final three kilometres and soloed to the line to take victory ahead of Salvatore Puccio (Team Sky) and his teammate Natnael Berhane.
“I was actually trying to set up the finale for Edvald Boasson Hagen to win the stage,” Cummings said. “He was our best chance. But as I was working for him, a gap was formed with only three kilometers to go. Normally I can do three kilometers alone so I went full gas and it worked out well.”
After chasing down several attacks in the final 20 kilometres to keep his teammate Edvald Boasson Hagen in contention, Cummings found himself in the race-winning move. It had been instigated by Matteo Montaguti (AG2R La Mondiale) at the foot of the final climb, and the Dimension Data rider quickly joined along with Puccio. With his teammate still behind, Cummings was able to sit on the bunch, refusing to budge despite insistence from Puccio.
The pace was high in the bunch and it took time for them to build any sort of advantage. Before they were too far up the road, three more riders joined them, and they were Berhane, Jan Bakelants (AG2R La Mondiale) and Daniel Moreno (Movistar). As Puccio did most of the work, Cummings laid in wait for the perfect moment.
Cummings took a turn excellently and got an immediate gap. There was no cooperation in the chase group and so he increased his advantage before the chasers finally started to cooperate.
Cummings looked back with 500m to go and had plenty of time to celebrate his win. Bakelants tried to launch a long sprint but was passed by Puccio and Berhane who had to settle for second and third respectively. Sagan easily won the sprint for seventh.
Zdenek Stybar finished safely in the peloton and so retained his 9-second advantage over the BMC trio of Damiano Caruso, Greg Van Avermaet and Tejay van Garderen.
Tirreno-Adriatico 2016 – stage 4 results (Montalto di Castro – Foligno):
| 1 | Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) |
6:04:49 |
| 2 | Salvatore Puccio (Sky) |
+13” |
| 3 | Natnael Berhane (Dimension Data) |
,, |
| 4 | Daniel Moreno (Movistar) |
,, |
| 5 | Jan Bakelants (AG2R) |
,, |
| 6 | Matteo Montaguti (AG2R) |
+16” |
| 7 | Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) |
+25” |
| 8 | Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) |
,, |
| 9 | Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) |
,, |
| 10 | Zdenek Stybar (Etixx – QuickStep) |
,, |
