Ineos

Pello Bilbao sprints to stage 4 victory in Stuttgart and secures second overall.

On the second ascent of Herdweg, Bardet set off to the front but was passed at the top by Van Dijke. Headed to the second climb at Berneck, a mass of 12 riders formed at the front and Bardet again took the top points on hand, inching his way into second place in the mountains classification, 10 points behind Jakob Geßner. Peák accelerated to take the bell in a solo attack, but the foursome was soon back together for a last chance at victory. Yates marked the move and finished second at the top behind Guerreiro who took three seconds. At the back of the peloton, Matias Jenson (Trek-Segafredo), placed fourth overall just 48 seconds behind Yates, crashed and could not continue to contest for a GC podium. On the first of three full circuits, 31.2km to go, the breakaway held a slim 1:55 lead. Zimmermann was able to take the white jersey of the best young rider due to the bonus seconds at the finish. Huge crowds lined the climb, cheering as Politt took the KOM points ahead of Bardet on the initial pass. The three and a half finishing circuits in Stuttgart provided the decisive territory for the final spot on the podium. It was a super dangerous break, which we tried to control in the beginning, but everybody wanted to be in the break so we had to pull hard. He edged Ruben Guerreiro (EF Education-EasyPost) at the line who finished in second place. "Today was a super tough day, but the team rode amazingly.