But the weather intervened yet again, with dangerously high winds forecast that forced organisers to cancel the summit finish at Vallter 2000 (11.8 km @ 7.5%), reducing the amount of altitude gained by about 1,300 metres, to 2,844, and the stage by 22 km, to 151. You may have noticed that these weather-caused cancellations, stage neutralisations, and other disruptions are becoming more frequent year by year. This is almost certainly a consequence of climate change, which is only going to get worse because not enough is being done to reverse it. That will eventually put the sport in a bind regarding where, when and even if important races will be held.
An unexpected sprint finish and a crash
In the meantime, nothing of great importance happened on the revised stage 4 course, which ended with an uphill sprint from a reduced peloton that was won by Ethan Vernon (NSN Cycling), ahead of current race leader and double stage winner Dorian Godon (INEOS Grenadiers) and the combative Pidcock, who is full of confidence after his superb second-place finish in last weekend’s Milano–San Remo. With this podium finish and the intermediate sprints, he won a total of nine bonus seconds on the stage, which thrust him into second place in the GC, 13 seconds behind Godon and 1 second ahead of Evenepoel.
The most important event in the race to this point occurred on Wednesday, on the lumpy but otherwise benign-looking 159.4 km course from Mont-roig del Camp to Villa-seca. As the peloton was sort of preparing for the inevitable bunch sprint finish, Evenepoel soared out of the pack and rode away with about 30 km left to ride. A few beats later, Vingegaard accelerated and caught up with his rival, and the two worked together to keep about 25 seconds between themselves and the peloton.
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But with about 10 km left to ride and the peloton drawing closer, Vingegaard was apparently advised by his team car to stop cooperating in order to save his legs for the mountains. This displeased Evenepoel, who briefly considered his options before resuming his attack. But entering a roundabout about 500 metres from the line, with the peloton now only about 7 seconds behind, he was catapulted over his handlebars and crashed. Vingegaard rode on but eventually sat up, unwilling to take advantage of his rival’s misfortune. That allowed Godon to easily win the sprint, in front of Vernon and Noah Hobbs (EF Education–EasyPost).
As for Evenepoel, he lost no time because the crash came within the final 5 km of the race. However, his pride was dented, and his body was bloodied and bruised. “I wanted to move to the drops, and at that moment, there was a hole in the road that I didn’t see, and it wasn’t marked,” he told Sporza. “Then I lost my handlebars. Now I have to let my body recover a bit, and then we’ll see what it says tonight and especially tomorrow morning.”
He went on to say, “I have a little pain everywhere. My elbow is open, my back is open, and my hips are open. My elbow is quite badly hit, so we have to see what is possible and what is not.” He was fine the next day, but rode cautiously, finishing 16th.
He also complained about Vingegaard, saying: “What others do tactically is not my concern. That’s their problem. It was clear who wanted to ride for the win and who didn’t.” To which the Dane riposted, “At some point, he wasn’t really happy with me, but that’s how it is. It’s cycling; we have our tactics.”
The mountains to come
Friday’s stage 5 has now become the race’s queen stage, with 4,556 metres of altitude gained, including the long and steep summit finish on the Coll de Pal (16.7 km @ 7.2%), a Beyond Category (HC) climb that will likely decide the GC. That ascent is preceded by three other categorised climbs that are shorter, but two of which are steeper, which should soften up the legs for the final test.
Saturday’s stage includes another HC climb, the Coll de Pratell (14.9 km @ 6.8%, with the final 5.5 km@ 11%!). But it comes in the middle of the 158.2 km course from Berga to Queralt, so it will probably have no influence on the outcome. More important will be the summit finish at the Santuari de Queralt (5.6 km @ 7.5 km), though the climb is probably too short to create large gaps among the main contenders or give much hope to the riders who lost time on the Coll de Pal. Let’s hope the storm has blown over and no more climbs are cut from the race.
GC Standings after Stage 4, 2026 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
- Dorian Godon, INEOS Grenadiers 15:30:47
2. Tom Pidcock, Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling +0:13
3. Remco Evenepoel, Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe +0:14
4. Jonas Vingegaard, Visma–Lease a Bike +0:24
5. Simone Gualdi, Lotto Intermarché “ - Andrea Raccagni Noviero, Soudal Quick-Step +0:25
7. Brandon McNulty, UAE Team Emirates–XRG “
8. Rudy Molard, Groupama–FDJ United +0:26
9. Antoine L’Hote, Decathlon CMA CGM “
10. Ben O’Connor, Jayco AlUla “
