page_title: 2015 Vuelta a Andalucía
section_title: Stage 4
hierarchical_section_title: 2015 Vuelta a Andalucía / Stages / Stage 4
caption_attribution_description: English: Professional Cyclist Chris Froome (Team Sky) 2012
context_page_description: The 2015 Vuelta a Andalucía was the 61st running of the Vuelta a Andalucía cycling stage race. It was rated as a 2.1 event on the 2015 UCI Europe Tour and was held from 18 to 22 February 2015, in the Andalusia region of southern Spain. Although the race lasted five days, there were six stages, with the first day split between two stages.
  The previous three editions of the Vuelta a Andalucía had been won by Alejandro Valverde, but he chose to begin his season at the 2015 Tour of Oman instead. Chris Froome and Alberto Contador both chose to begin their 2015 seasons in Andalusia. Nairo Quintana also intended to start his season at this race, but he pulled out following a crash.
  The race was closely contested by Contador and Froome. Contador took the lead in the race after the split first stage, beating Froome by eight seconds in the individual time trial. He then increased his lead in the general classification by winning the summit finish on stage 3. Froome, however, won the second summit finish on stage 4 to take the lead of the race by a two-second margin. He was able to defend this lead to the end of the race, so winning his first stage race since the previous May.
context_section_description: Stage 4 was another summit finish, with the climb of Alto de Allanadas coming after 202.4 km (126 mi) of racing. There were several small climbs before the steep 4.4 km (2.7 mi) climb to the finish. The final climb included sections of around 20% incline. The difficulty was increased by tricky weather conditions, including fog, rain and cold temperatures.
  The early part of the stage featured a breakaway of five riders: Edward Theuns (Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise), Romain Sicard (Team Europcar), Hugh Carthy (Caja Rural–Seguros RGA), Simon Geschke (Team Giant–Alpecin) and Mirko Selvaggi (Wanty–Groupe Gobert). With 10 km (6 mi) remaining, only Geschke and Selvaggi were left. As Team Sky took up the chase at the foot of the climb, Selvaggi was on his own. Nicolas Roche Team Sky did a long spell riding on the front of the lead group on behalf of Froome; after this, their teammate Peter Kennaugh made a solo attack that brought Selvaggi back. Another Sky rider, Mikel Nieve, then put in a brief attack, before Froome attacked on one of the steepest parts of the climb. Contador was able to stay with Froome for the first 200 m (656 ft) of his attack, but was then dropped.
  Froome then rode solo to the end of the stage, using his power meter to judge his effort, and was able to ride away from Contador. Despite Contador's best efforts, the time gap increased. At the finish line, Froome was 29 seconds ahead of Contador. He had been 27 seconds behind the Spaniard at the start of the stage, so he now moved into the overall lead of the race by two seconds.
  Froome took over the lead in both the overall and mountains classifications, while Contador retained his lead in the points competition.
caption: Chris Froome, who moved into the lead after victory in stage 4
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 5D Mark II", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Aperture 3.3", "Image DateTime": "2012:06:14 13:14:15", "Image ExifOffset": "200", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "14", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:06:14 13:14:15", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:06:14 13:14:15", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "Y", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "61/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "61/8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "24", "EXIF SubSecTime": "53", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "53", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "53", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1024", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "683", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "200159/52", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "551048/141", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}