PREVIEW | Vuelta a Espana 2023 stage 4 - Kaden Groves man to beat in race's first bunch sprint

Preview. The first three stages of the Vuelta a Espana were all complicated, tense and not suited to the sprinters. This changes on stage 4, the riders descend into Tarragona for the first expected bunch sprint.

On the fourth day of racing however the riders return to the coast. It will be a fast ride back into Tarragona near Barcelona, with the route having a slight downhill tilt, however with a couple of hilltops towards the finish that won't make life easy for the sprinters.

The start is in fact mostly in a slight downhill. The riders depart from 798 meters of altitude and arrive at 66, there is a small hilltop after 60 kilometers of racing but until then the race will be set. The riders then find two categorized ascents. 9Km at 3.7% with 54 kilometers to go, then 4.5Km at 5.6% with 31 kilometers to go. The last one is not an easy one, and taking into consideration the mostly downhill finale afterwards some teams could ally to permanently drop a few sprinters.

Most likely however bullets will be saved for the run-up to the finish. There the finale is relatively simple until the final kilometers. A couple of roundabouts, then with 1.7km to 900 meters to go the road rises slightly. The peloton finds a turn with just under 500 meters to go which will be crucial, from there on the riders have an uphill drag to the line with around 5% average, not one for the pure sprinters, it will be an interesting finale.

The riders return into the heat, and find temperatures of around 30 degrees at the finish in Tarragona. The wind will also be present, a modest breeze from the southwest, a crosswind throughout much of the day which will increase closer to the finish. The final sprint may see a tailwind.

Kaden Groves - Second on stage 2, Groves displayed his current form. There he survived the climbing, which here should not be a major issue for the Australian. Alpecin don't have much of a leadout present but if he has the legs, in the uphill drag to the line he should have the speed to fight for the win.

Bryan Coquard - The problem is that much of the competition are climbers who enjoy the climbing. Bryan Coquard being one of them, he won a finale at the Tour Down Under earlier this year which was not too different from what we'll face tomorrow. He will be licking his lips for a Grand Tour win, this could be the one.

Juan Sebastián Molano - Molano leads UAE's ambitions on this day. The team has big GC ambitions but brought the Colombian so he will naturally have the freedom. Winner of a stage at the Vuelta a Burgos he carries good form into the race, and he is not unfamiliar with these finales that carry an uphill punch.

You wouldn't be able to discard the GC riders from this one honestly. It isn't too likely, but with a slightly uphill finale I wouldn't be too surprised to see Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel try to go for bonifications or even more - as was the case in the opening day of the Volta a Catalunya. Puncheurs stand chances here, someone like Andrea Bagioli can definitely have the legs to fight for a top spot, whilst I wouldn't call Filippo Ganna as either but his sprinting legs this year have definitely been present.

But we've still got plenty sprinters who also have realistic chances of winning. The field has modest quality and several can climb well, so I expect a very open fight. The likes of Marijn van den Berg, Milan Menten, Andrea Vendrame and Ivan García Cortina specially are very punchy and certainly have the legs to knock a big win. Add to this Alberto Dainese who has a bit higher pure speed; Hugo Hofstetter, Hugo Page and Edward Theuns and we're set for an exciting sprint.

*** Kaden Groves, Bryan Coquard
** Marijn van den Berg, Juan Sebastián Molano, Andrea Vendrame
* Alberto Dainese, Milan Menten, Ivan García Cortina, Filippo Ganna, Primoz Roglic

Pick: Kaden Groves