Giro d'Italia: Bradley Wiggins falls to sixth after losing 17 seconds on stage four

Sir Bradley Wiggins lost 17 seconds and fell to sixth overall at the Giro d'Italia after being caught behind a late crash on a wet and treacherous fourth stage.

The day was the second longest of the Giro at 246km and while the first 190km were largely dry and flat, the last 56km took place over two categorised climbs and in wet and cloudy conditions.

Attacks

Seven riders headed up the road early on and although they built up an advantage of almost eight minutes, three men later fell off the pace and then the remaining four riders' advantage began to plummet on the first climb of the day. The last escapee was caught close to the summit of the category-three ascent to Vibo Valentina, 42km from home, prompting a series of attacks from out of the peloton on the descent and subsequent last climb of the day, the category-two Croce Ferrata. Patrick Gretsch (Argos-Shimano), Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox), Frederik Willems (Lotto-Belisol), Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Sylvain Georges (Ag2r-La Mondiale) all tried and failed to go clear, before Danilo Di Luca (Vini Fantini) and Robinson Chalapud (Colombia) finally made an escape stick 10km out, just below the Croce Ferrata summit. The duo maintained their gap on the downhill to the finish line, but were caught inside the final kilometre, paving the way for Battaglin to win the bunch sprint. Watch highlights of the stage on Sky Sports 4 from 7pm Stage four result 1 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox, 6:14:19
2 Fabio Felline (Ita) Androni Giocattoli, st
3 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar, st
4 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Team Sky, st
5 Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) FDJ, st
6 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC, st
7 Benat Inxausti (Spa) Movistar, st
8 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Sharp, st
9 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) RadioShack-Leopard, st
10 Luca Paolini (Ita) Katusha
Selected others
13 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, st
48 Bradley Wiggins (GB) team Sky, +17secs General classification 1 Luca Paolini (Ita) Katusha, 15:18:51
2 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Team Sky, +17secs
3 Benat Intxausti (Spa) Movistar, +26
4 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, +31
5 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Sharp, +34
6 Sir Bradley Wiggins (GB) Team Sky, same time
7 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Katusha, +36
8 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky, +37
9 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Vini-Fantini, +39
10 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC, +42 Other jerseys Red (points classification) - Cadel Evans (BMC)
Blue (mountains classification) - Giovanni Visconti (Movistar)
White (best young rider) - Fabio Aru (Astana)