Sam Bennett sprinted to victory at stage four of the Vuelta a Espana as Primoz Roglic retained his lead in the General Classification.

The Irish rider, who claimed the green jersey at this year's Tour de France, surged past Jasper Philipsen around 25 metres from the summit finish in Ejea de los Caballeros.

Deceuninck-Quick-Step had him well positioned towards the end of the mostly flat 191.7 kilometre ride from Garray, the peloton bunching after Willie Smit had been caught following a breakaway with around 14km left.

Philipsen moved to upset those plans but Bennett timed his finish to perfection, edging out the UAE Team Emirates rider into second, with Jakub Mareczko third.

"It was so fast in the run-in, [I was] a bit nervous, fast all day but I was just nervous, it was a bit sketchy, and in the final, we weren't all together yet," Bennett said afterwards.

"It was mad how we said we needed to be together at one point and, at that point, the team was all there. They did their job perfectly, came together when we needed to. We only asked a few guys to be there and the whole team was there to support."

He admitted Philipsen's move left him fearing he had left a push too late, adding: "I actually really didn't think I was going to catch him, but, in the end, I started getting more and more speed and still accelerating to the line, so I had the power.

"But when he initially went, he was so explosive."

Roglic finished down in 19th but remains at the top of the GC with a five-second gap over Daniel Martin.

 

STAGE RESULT

1. Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) 03:53:29
2. Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) same time
3. Jakob Marezco (CCC) same time
4. Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) same time
5. Gerben Thijssen (Lotto Soudal) same time

CLASSIFICATION STANDINGS 

General Classification

1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 16:30:53
2. Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) +0:05
3. Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) +0:13

Points Classification

1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 65
2. Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) 57
3. Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) 50

King of the Mountains

1. Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) 18
2. Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) 16
3. Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) 14

WHAT'S NEXT?

Saturday sees a succession of tricky climbs in the closing 60km during a total ride of 185.5km from Huesca up to Sabinanigo.