Defending champion Primoz Roglic roared to the top of the Vuelta a Espana standings with a first stage win of this year's competition on day four in the Basque Country.

With the race resuming on Tuesday after a break to transfer from the Netherlands, the Slovenian moved up from third to take the red jersey with victory from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Laguardia.

Despite no other team members making the top 10 for the day, Roglic was ably supported by his fellow Team Jumbo–Visma riders, who helped him command the final uphill sprint to take victory.

After back-to-back stage wins for Ireland's Sam Bennett, it means Roglic has now reinforced his title defence, dethroning team-mate Edoardo Affini at the top.

Roglic edged Mads Pedersen, whose strong Vuelta continues apace with his third consecutive second-place finish, moving him up to ninth in the General Classification and second in points.

The former's team-mate Sepp Kuss lies second, 13 seconds off the overall lead, though the rest of their fellow Jumbo-Visma riders have slipped down the ranks ahead of Wednesday's leg from Irun to Bilbao.

Roglic happy to build early advantage

For the first time this year, Roglic has built a double-digit lead, and says he is happy to take the early advantage.

"It's really just the beginning of La Vuelta but it's always better to be 10 seconds ahead rather than behind," he stated.

"It was already a hard pace the whole day, with a super fast and hard stage. The finale was an opportunity to fight for the stage win. I had the legs so I gave it a go."

STAGE RESULT

1. Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma) 3:31:05
2. Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) same time
3. Enric Mas (Movistar Team) same time
4. Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ) same time
5. Pavel Sivakov (INEOS Grenadiers) same time

CLASSIFICATION STANDINGS 

General Classification

1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 11:50:59
2. Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) +13 seconds
3. Ethan Hayter (INEOS Grenadiers) +26 seconds

Points Classification

1. Sam Bennett (BORA-Hansgrohe) 127
2. Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) 118
3. Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates) 34

King of the Mountains

1. Joan Bou (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 5
2. Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma) 3
3. Julius van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) 3