Ben King (Dimension Data) wins stage 4 Vuelta a Espana.

Ben King (Dimension Data) wins two man up sprint against Nikita Stalnov (Astana Pro Team) in the summit of Puerto de Alfacar, Vuelta a Espana. While

race leader Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) did enough to retain his red jersey in the face of attacks from Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) and Emmanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe).

How it unfolded

Although Sunday's trek to Caminito del Rey finished just beyond the top of a category 3 climb, stage 4 was classed as the Vuelta's maiden summit finish. With the demanding finale above Granada in mind – not to mention the soaring temperatures – there was no great resistance to the day's opening attack.

King, Stalnov and Rolland were joined by Luis Angel Maté (Cofidis), Jelle Wallays (Lotto Soudal), Lars Boom (LottoNL-Jumbo), Oscar Cabedo Carda (Burgos BH), Aritz Bagues (Euskadi Basque Country-Murias) and Ben Gastauer (AG2R La Mondiale) in forging clear in the opening kilometres, and the peloton was more than content to leave them to it.

Top Ten General Classification

1, Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland) Team Sky13:47:19,
2, Emanuel Buchmann (Germany) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:07,
3, Simon Yates (Great Britain) Mitchelton Scott0:00:10,
4, Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team0:00:12,
5, Wilco Kelderman (Netherland) Team Sunweb0:00:25,
6, Ion Izagirre (Spain) Bahrain-Merida0:00:30,
7, Tony Gallopin (France) AG2R La Mondiale0:00:33,
8, Nairo Quintana (Colombia) Movistar Team,
9, Steven Kruijswijk (Netherland) LottoNL-Jumbo0:00:37,
10, Enric Mas (Spain) Quick-Step Floors0:00:42