Samuel Sanchez wins Tour of the Basque Country stage four

Samuel Sanchez won stage four of the Tour of the Basque Country after a late attack as Wilco Kelderman moved into the overall lead.

Basque rider Sanchez (BMC Racing) surged out of a reduced peloton with about 1.5km remaining and the hung on down the descent to the finish in Orio to beat Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) into second place and Warren Barguil (Giant-Shimano) into third.

Kelderman (Lotto-NL-Jumbo), Sergio Henao (Team Sky), Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) all finished in the group just behind Sanchez, but race leader Mikel Landa was dropped on the day's final climb and crossed the line eight seconds down.

It means Kelderman is now four seconds ahead of second-placed Henao at the top of the general classification and seven seconds in front of third-placed Landa.

Sanchez, whose win was his first since June 2013, stays fourth, eight seconds down, while Contador remains fifth, 10 seconds back.

Kelderman will now look to defend his lead on Friday's crucial fifth stage, which ends with the 5.4km, category-one climb to Alto de Usartza and then 2km of descent to the finish in Arrate.

Stage four result

1 Samuel Sanchez (Esp) BMC Racing, 4:13:12

2 Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida, same time

3 Warren Barguil (Fra) Giant-Alpecin, st

4 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale, st

5 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky, st

Selected others  

6 Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff, st

8 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, st

20 Mikel Landa (Esp) Team Sky, +8sec

General classification

1 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, 17:52:48

2 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky, +4sec

3 Mikel Landa (Esp) Team Sky, +7

4 Samuel Sanchez (Esp) BMC Racing, +8

5 Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff, +10