Antón climbs to Vuelta win

Anton: Stage four victor

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Igor Antón (Euskaltel) proved strongest on a brutal uphill finish in Valdepeñas de Jaén to land stage four of the Vuelta a España.

The Spaniard, third on Monday's third stage, timed his attack to perfection on the finishing slope which ramped up to a 27% gradient in places, kicking clear a 21-man front group with 400 metres to go.

Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) and Peter Velits (HTC-Columbia) had both closed to within a second when the line came but had to settle for second and third respectively.

Anton's efforts weren't quite enough to put him in the leader's red jersey as Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma - Lotto) finished in fifth, just five seconds behind. That means the Belgian tops the general classification by 10 seconds from Antón and Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha).

"I had high hopes of doing something in the Vuelta this year and I'm delighted to win today," said Anton afterwards.

Sad day for the sport

On a day which was overshadowed by the news that former Tour de France winner Laurent Fignon had died from cancer at the age of 50, a four-man break had gone clear 16 kilometres into the 183.8km stage from Málaga.

Guillaume Bonnafond (AG2R), Sergio Carrasco (Andalucía), Dario Cataldo (Quick-Step) and Dominik Roels (Milram) were the quartet in question and their advantage topped six minutes at one point.

However they never looked like staying clear and Bonnafond and Cataldo were the last two to be reeled in 13km from the finish as they battled up the category two-rated Alto de Valdepeñas de Jaén, one of three ranked climbs on the route.

The peloton splintered on that ascent and one of the big losers was Cervélo's Carlos Sastre who came in one minute and 34 seconds behind Antón.