MADRID, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Tadej Pogacar produced another dominant display to win the fourth stage of the Vuelta a Espana on Tuesday and open up a commanding lead in the overall standings.
There are still 17 stages left to race, but the UAE-Team Emirates rider already leads second-place Primoz Roglic by 3 minutes, 21 seconds after leaving his rivals far behind on a brutal day in the Andorran mountains.
Pogacar had shown his leadership among the riders Monday when he stopped racing during a torrential rain and hailstorm that led to the cancellation of the third stage.
When action resumed with Tuesday's 104.8-kilometer stage, which started and finished in Andorra, nobody could stay with him.
The short but steep stage saw the main peloton split almost from the start, but Pogacar made his decisive move with around 50 kilometers remaining, riding away from his rivals on the second major climb of the day, the Collada de Beixalis.
The Slovenian opened a gap of more than one and a half minutes over the final five kilometers of the climb on a chasing group that included Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Felix Gall (Decathlon).
Gall initially tried to follow Pogacar before dropping back as the race leader continued to increase the pace.
The descent of the Collada de Beixalis was followed immediately by the first-category ascent of the Col de Ordino, where Pogacar stretched his advantage to more than three minutes.
The chasing group worked together to reduce the gap, but Pogacar still crossed the finish line 2:39 ahead of his closest pursuers.
With his overall advantage over Roglic now at 3:21, Pogacar has taken a major step toward winning his first Vuelta title and completing his collection of victories in cycling's three Grand Tours. ■