Finally, a breakthrough for Visma’s Ben Tulett! Young Brit takes stage win and race lead at Coppi e Bartali

So far, it’s been an English-speaking party in Italy. After Caleb Ewan’s win in stage one, Paul Double came out on top in stage two. He was then succeeded by Jay Vine, while Magnus Sheffield took the leader’s jersey from the Brit riding for Jayco AlUla. The fourth stage to Brisighella promised to be just as action-packed as the previous stages. A heavily undulating finale, once again featuring a local circuit, made things very exciting.

Unlike previous stages where the breakaway formed mainly for publicity purposes, things got serious right from the start. Thirteen riders broke away, including several big names. Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal Quick-Step) was in the move, joined by previous stage winner Double. Also in the break were Walter Calzoni (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) and Adrien Maire (Unibet Tietema Rockets). The strength of the breakaway was concerning, and the peloton gave them little room. Midway through the race, the gap was only a minute and a half.

As the peloton closed in on the final local circuit, Alberto Bettiol and Mauri Vansevenant seized the moment to bridge across to the leaders during the third ascent of the Monticino, a climb that had to be tackled four times. The Belgian rider from Soudal Quick-Step had Eenkhoorn up front as a powerful ally, and the gap suddenly grew again. But on the Valico Rio Chiè, another climb, the gap quickly came down once more. The race turned into a yo-yo between the breakaway and the peloton.

It wasn’t fast enough up front for the strongest riders: five men, including Maire, Vansevenant, and Double, managed to open a gap. Vansevenant had big ambitions, but so did the peloton. The favorites caught up with the breakaway with 20 kilometers to go. That’s when Rafal Majka made his move, joined by Jarno Widar. The 35-year-old Pole broke away with his 16-year-younger companion. A little later, the ever-aggressive Vansevenant joined them. The trio held strong on the climbs, but on the flat sections, they lost ground to the reduced peloton.

They were caught on the penultimate climb, and it looked like it would turn into a classic uphill sprint finish in Brisighella. Or would it? Not quite. Ben Tulett launched an attack from the peloton. He was only three seconds behind leader Sheffield, so the pressure was on to respond. Mark Donovan (Q36.5) also joined the move. But the Brit from Visma | Lease a Bike managed to drop his companions before the final climb. On the steep finish, he had enough left in the tank to take a brilliant double: stage victory and the overall lead.