page_title: 2016 Tour of the Basque Country
section_title: Stage 4
hierarchical_section_title: 2016 Tour of the Basque Country / Stages / Stage 4
context_page_description: The 2016 Tour of the Basque Country was a road cycling stage race that took place in the Basque Country between 4 and 9 April 2016. It was the 56th edition of the Tour of the Basque Country and the ninth event of the 2016 UCI World Tour.
  The race took place over mountainous terrain and was suitable for climbers. The first five stages were mountainous; the sixth and final stage was a hilly individual time trial. The defending champion was Joaquim Rodríguez, with Nairo Quintana, Alberto Contador and Sergio Henao also among the favourites for the overall victory.
  Luis León Sánchez won the opening stage, but lost the lead the following day on the first uphill finish to Mikel Landa. Landa lost the lead on Stage 4, with Wilco Kelderman taking over the lead. On the second uphill finish of the race on the penultimate day, Henao took over the lead after escaping with Contador. Contador then won the time trial on the final stage and beat Henao to the overall victory by 12 seconds, with Quintana a further 23 seconds behind in third. Henao won the points classification, while Nicolas Edet won the intermediate sprints competition and Diego Rosa the mountains classification.
context_section_description: 7 April 2016 – Lesaka to Orio, 165 km (103 mi)
  The fourth stage of the race once again included several late climbs, coming at the end of a 165-kilometre (103 mi) course. The racing started in Lesaka, where Stage 3 had finished, and took the riders to Orio, travelling principally along the coast. There were two climbs in the first 50 kilometres (31 mi), one first-category and the other third-category. There was then a long section of flat roads before a second-category climb with 65 kilometres (40 mi) remaining. There were then three more second-category climbs in the final 35 kilometres (22 mi); the last two were ascents of different sides of the Alt de Aia, with the last summit coming 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) from the finish. After the final descent, there were 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to the finish, which included an uncategorised climb of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) at 7%.
  The beginning part of the stage was raced hard; a large breakaway formed early and contested the early climbs. Denifl won the first two climbs, but the breakaway was caught and, after 80 kilometres (50 mi), a new breakaway was formed. This was made up of six riders: Simone Petilli (Lampre–Mérida), Tim Wellens (Lotto–Soudal), Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale), Luis Ángel Maté (Cofidis), Carlos Verona (Etixx–Quick-Step) and Ángel Vicioso (Katusha). The breakaway split on the fourth climb of the day, but re-formed on the descent. Team Sky held their advantage under three minutes for most of the stage and it was reduced further approaching the final climbs; it was around 90 seconds with 22 kilometres (14 mi) remaining.
  On the penultimate climb of the day, Warren Barguil (Team Giant–Alpecin) attacked and was followed by Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff), but Astana chased the move down. Meanwhile, Vicioso was dropped from the break; the rest of the breakaway had a one-minute lead going into the final climb. On the final climb, which had sections with a gradient of 28%, Verona attacked and escaped from the breakaway group, with Maté and Wellens chasing. Henao, Contador and Quintana attacked from the peloton, with Landa unable to follow. The riders were in several groups coming off the final climb, but Kreuziger's efforts brought the front groups back together with 2.3 kilometres (1.4 mi) remaining. On the final, uncategorised climb, Contador attacked, with Henao following, but Samuel Sánchez came past both of them and descended fast to the finish line, where he won the stage. Rui Costa (Movistar) finished second, on the same time as Sánchez, as part of a sixteen-rider chasing group that included all the main favourites except Landa, who lost eight seconds. Kelderman therefore moved into the race lead, four seconds ahead of Henao, with Landa now seven seconds behind in third place. Sánchez's victory was his first since he won a stage of the 2013 Critérium du Dauphiné and his first since signing for BMC.
caption: Profile of Stage 4