Results Cro Race stage 4 | Brandon McNulty does it again, taking win number 87 for UAE with long solo attack

UAE Team Emirates - XRG were the clear favourites to win the Cro Race and today they built the foundation for the overall triumph. On stage 4, the hardest of the week, Brandon McNulty attacked the race and took a successful solo win with a large margin over the rest of the competition.

For most, today's stage was seen as the queen stage of the race, featuring a long climb in the middle of the day with 11 kilometers in length, and late on an ascent that was 3.4 kilometers long at 11% where the climbers could truly make the difference - besides the hilltop finish in Lapin, where a few more gaps could be created, potentially crucial in a race that lacks other mountainous days.

The breakaway of the day was formed by Erik Fetter, Javier Ibáñez, Axel van der Tuuk and Swann Gloux. This is a group that wouldn't last long however, as the pace began to increase in the longer climb with UAE beginning to set things up, and shortly after with 54 kilometers to go Tim Wellens would go on the attack, with the likes of Ben Turner and Jakob Omrzel following. A dangerous move that would catch the breakaway's survivors, but the group itself would be caught by the peloton before the main climb of the day.

There however UAE picked it up again with Tim Wellens launching Brandon McNulty with 24 kilometers to go. It was an early attack in the climb but an effective one as the American clearly had the superior legs in the group and distanced the competition. Omrzel and Filippo Zanna would go over the climb in pursuit but would later be caught by a larger group that would continue to lose time until the riders arrived at the penultimate hilltop of the day, where Edoardo Zambanini, Michal Kwiatkowski and Joel Nicolau attacked from the group.

McNulty took the victory with 1:49 minutes over Zambanini, and Kwiatkowski who finished second and third on the day.