Vuelta a Espana: Chris Froome stays third as Darwin Atapuma takes lead

Chris Froome consolidated third place on stage four

Chris Froome remained third overall at the Vuelta a Espana as Colombia's Darwin Atapuma took the race lead on a mountainous fourth stage won by breakaway rider Lilian Calmejane.

Calmejane (Direct Energie) attacked out of a 20-man escape group with 9km left to the summit finish at San Andres de Teixido and hung on to beat Atapuma (BMC Racing) into second place by 15 seconds.

Froome (Team Sky) and all the other main contenders for the red jersey played out a stalemate on the final climb and followed side by side 2min 6sec later, which was a big enough gap to lift Atapuma from 14th in the general classification to first.

Darwin Atapuma moved into the overall Vuelta a Espana lead

With previous leader Ruben Fernandez (Movistar) having earlier been dropped, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) remains second in the standings, now 29 seconds down, while Froome (Team Sky) stays third but drifts to 33 seconds back.

Calmejane, meanwhile, claimed the first professional win of his career in his first Grand Tour.

Lilian Calmejane claimed the first win of his professional career

He said: "It's a great feeling. To win a stage in the Vuelta is just awesome. Today, it was in my head, 'Do breakaway, do breakaway and have no regrets'. 

"I only thought I could win the stage when the gap was four minutes. I attacked and when I was first in the race, I gave everything to the finish line."

The Vuelta continues on Wednesday with a 171.3km fifth stage from Viveiro to Lugo. Find out more about the route in our race guide and follow the action with our live blog from 3pm BST.

Stage four result

1 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Direct Energie, 4:05:19
2 Darwin Atapuma (Col) BMC Racing, +15sec
3 Ben King (USA) Cannondale-Drapac, same time
4 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana, +19
5 Nathan Haas (Aus) Dimension Data, +23
6 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) LottoNL-Jumbo, +24
7 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Cannondale-Drapac, +33
8 Chad Haga (USA) Giant-Alpecin, +37
9 Jaime Roson (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, +40
10 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Argon 18, +42
Selected others
20 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +2:06
21 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-BikeExchange, st
22 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, st
23 Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff, st
24 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, st

General classification

1 Darwin Atapuma (Col) BMC Racing, 13:23:10
2 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +29sec
3 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, +33
4 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-BikeExchange, +39
5 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, +same time
6 Samuel Sanchez (Esp) BMC Racing, +1:08
7 Ruben Fernandez (Esp) Movistar, +1:11
8 Leopold Konig (Cze) Team Sky, +1:13
9 Peter Kennaugh (GB) Team Sky, +1:15
10 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Etixx - Quick-Step, +1:23