Giro d'Italia 2017: Jan Polanc Takes Solo Win, Bob Jungels in Pink

Jan Polanc of UAE Team Emirates won Stage 4 of the 2017 Giro d'Italia on Tuesday, finishing the long climb up Etna solo.                  

The first mountain stage saw the top contenders for the general classification take a conservative approach, and Polanc took advantage, staying ahead of the peloton. Bob Jungels of Quick-Step Floors became the new leader in the GC.

Here's a look at the race results, via CyclingHub:

The current Giro standings:

Recap

Tuesday's stage was expected to be a spectacular one and finished up the flanks of Etna, an active volcano in Sicily. Geraint Thomas of Team Sky weighed in on the huge task at hand, via Eurosport UK:

An early break developed shortly after the flag dropped and included Polanc Pavel Brutt of Gazprom-RusVelo. As expected, the top contenders kept their legs still, saving all their energy for Etna.

The first climb of the day was the Portella Femmina Morta, a long but gentle portion. During the climb, BMC's Rohan Dennis became the first rider to abandon the race as a result of his crash during Stage 3.

Katusha-Alpecin's Alberto Losada joined him shortly after, as he crashed out. Eurosport UK shared video of the incident:

There was another huge crash shortly before the start of the final climb, with confusion in the peloton leading to a handful riders turning the wrong way. Of the GC riders, Katusha-Alpecin's Ilnur Zakarin lost the most time.

Polanc dropped everyone from the leading group to tackle Etna solo, with the peloton starting their ascent less than four minutes down. The Slovenian's lead seemed healthy, but he battled hard for the pink and suffered as a result.

In the peloton, Vincenzo Nibali got things started with under three kilometers to go, and Zakarin launched a huge attack, quickly closing the gap to the leader. VeloVoices had some advice for the Slovenian:

Polanc survived, winning the stage and taking the mountain jersey, with Zakarin sprinting to second place to improve his ranking in the GC. He fell short of taking the pink jersey, however, with Jungels arriving in the next group.

The top contenders for the GC all held their own, with the attacks coming too late to punish anyone. There should be more fireworks later in this Giro, but for now, none of the favourites stand out. Time differences in the top 10 are minimal.

Wednesday's stage will finish in Messina, the hometown of Nibali. After a hilly start, the road will flatten out, and a bunch sprint seems likely.