On Stage 4 of the 2025 Volta a Catalunya, Juan Ayuso launched an attack with UAE’s intense pacing, distancing his rivals on the Monestir de Montserrat climb. Primož Roglič, initially caught off guard, fought back and closed the gap, leading to a thrilling sprint finish between the two.
It was the second mountain stage in a row in Catalunya, featuring the Monestir de Montserrat climb (8.42 km, 6.78%). The climb was very regular and not steep enough to create huge gaps, with the average speed reaching over 26 km/h. Without UAE Emirates committing fully to pacing, it likely would have been a slow ascent with a large GC group bunch sprint at the end or a breakaway victory for Georg Steinhauser.
It was another hard and long day, with Emmanuel Buchmann expending 3,246 kilojoules over 4:03 hours at a rate of 13.10 kJ/kg/h. UAE fully committed to Ayuso, who was in superb shape, with Marc Soler and Adam Yates doing very hard pulls, reducing and stretching out the elite GC rider group. When Ayuso attacked with 2.6 km to go, he managed to distance everyone on the 7% gradient, while his main rival Roglič was far back in the group and was not close to the Spaniard’s wheel when the attack began. It took Roglič more than a minute to catch up to Ayuso, thanks to his great legs, compensating for a tactical error.
Both stars worked well together enough to avoid being caught by Landa, Mas, and the rest until 500 metres to go, when both stopped to cooperate. When Landa was almost on their wheel, Roglič decided to accelerate and lead out Ayuso to the finish line. However, in a very close sprint, the winner was the Slovenian. Mas and the others finished a few seconds behind, while in the GC, the gap to Roglič and Ayuso, thanks to bonus seconds, is over 20 seconds for their closest competitors, with one mountain stage remaining.
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With hard pacing by UAE, Ayuso and Roglič averaged 6.80 ᵉW/kg for 19:11 minutes. With more commitment, they could likely have reached close to 7 ᵉW/kg. Mas, Martínez, Landa, Van Eetvelt, and Gall averaged 6.73 ᵉW/kg. To show how high the level is, Burgos rider Mario Aparicio averaged 6.45 ᵉW/kg after a tough and long stage, finishing 23rd ahead of Ben O’Connor, Sepp Kuss, and Richard Carapaz.
Great Race and Summary!! A nice battle so far and for the days to come as it looks. However, where is Vima? It’s starting to worry that we no longer see Visma fighting for GC battles if Matheo isn’t there. So far, we have not seen a major performance from Jonas, Kuss or the Team to think they can put UAE under pressure for the TDF (unless Pogacar suffers an injury in the cobbles to come). Only Matheo seems to be at another level than the rest of Visma.