Stage 4: Winter Park > Hegra
Stage 4 of the AlUla Tour took the peloton from Winter Park to Hegra, with the open desert roads once again offering the potential for echelons. Early in the stage, a 16-man breakaway formed after 20 kilometres, with Timo de Jong representing Team Picnic PostNL. The move was kept under control and brought back with 56 kilometres remaining.
After the regrouping, the peloton stayed largely together until the final 20 kilometres, when several teams — including Team Picnic PostNL — tried to force splits in the crosswinds. A late solo attack at 16 kilometres to go was controlled by the peloton and neutralised with 7 kilometres remaining, setting up the expected sprint finish in Hegra. In the fast run to the line, Frits Biesterbos showed his power to sprint to a strong third place, behind Matteo Malucelli and Jonathan Milan. In GC, Bjorn Koerdt remains in 4th heading into the final stage.
After the stage, Biesterbos said: “Teamwork, today was definitely about teamwork. Especially for Bjorn in the GC, we worked really well together to keep him protected and supported. In the final, we continued that teamwork. All the guys did a really strong job coming into the sprint, where I could eventually sprint to a third place.”
