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Second French success in Vuelta as Atapuma rides into red

Xinhua, August 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

23 year-old Frenchman Lilian Calmejane (Dimension Date) became the second French winner in two days when he claimed the fourth stage of the Vuelta de Espana cycle race on Tuesday.

Calmejane was part of a group of 7 escapees who opened up a lead of up to five minutes over the main peloton in the stage between Betanzos and San Andres de Teixeira, a 163.5 kilometers stage over hilly terrain which finished with a tough second category climb.

The stage was made all the harder by the high temperatures of over 30 degrees, which perhaps convinced the main group to not step up the chance until it was too late.

Calmejane broke away from his fellow escapees with around 5 kilometers left in the stage and was able to finish 15 second ahead of Colombian climber Darwin Atapuma (team BMC), whose performance takes him into the overall leader' s red jersey, which had been worn by Movistar' s Ruben Fernandez during the stage.

The group of the main favorites including Chris Froome, Alejandro Valverde, Nairo Quintana and Alberto Contador all came in together, but now Atapuma holds a 29 seconds lead over Valverde in second and 33 over third placed Froome in the general classification.

Wednesday sees the riders cover 171 kilometers to Luga in a relatively flat stage which should end in a bunch sprint. Endit