Vuelta a Espana: Chris Froome retains lead; Matteo Trentin milestone

Froome (Team Sky) finished safely in the peloton to keep his red leader's jersey on a day when a technical approach to the finish line in Tarragona produced several crashes.

But the 198km stage belonged to the 28-year-old Italian Trentin, who secured the second stage win for his Quick-Step Floors team at the 2017 Vuelta.

Trentin had finished behind team-mate Yves Lampaert in Sunday's second stage.

But this time he out-gunned Juan Jose Lobato (LottoNL-Jumbo) to the line after the Spaniard had begun his sprint with 250 metres to go.

Trentin stayed tucked in behind Lobato, and was able to jump to the left nearer to the finish and take victory by a bike length.

"I was looking for a victory because I'm really going good in this last part of the season," Trentin told reporters after adding a Vuelta stage victory to similar successes at the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia.

"After my crash at the Tour de France I was thinking about coming here and winning stages."

On becoming the 100th rider to win a stage on all three Grand Tours, Trentin - who is heading to Orica-Scott for 2018 - said: "I will think about that in the future.

"But I am really proud to do this with the Quick-Step team because next year I am going to change (team).

"It is great to have these results with this team."

Froome remains two seconds ahead of David De La Cruz (Quick-Step Floors), Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing Team) and Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) in the general classification heading into Wednesday's 175.7km stage between Benicassim and Alcossebre.

Final leading positions after Stage 4 (Escaldes-Tarragona - 198.2km):

1 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 4hrs 43mins 57secs
2 Juan Jose Lobato (Spa) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
3 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Cannondale-Drapac
4 Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
5 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal
6 Sacha Modolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
7 Lorrenzo Manzin (Fra) FDJ
8 Soren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb
9 Youcef Reguigui (Alg) Dimension Data
10 Jetse Bol (Ned) Manzana Postobon
11 Jonas Van Genechten (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
12 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
13 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) FDJ
14 Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team
15 Adam Blythe (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport
16 Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha-Alpecin
17 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky
18 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team
19 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team
20 Lluis Guillermo Mas Bonet (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA all at the same time

Selected others:

37 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
48 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott
50 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott at same time
105 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky at 49
190 Conor Dunne (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport at 07:16
192 Mark Christian (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport at 09:05

Leading general classification after Stage 4:

1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 13hrs 37mins 41secs
2 David de la Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors at 02
3 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team at 02
4 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team at 02
5 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida at 10
6 Johan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Col) Orica-Scott at 11
7 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team at 38
8 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott at 39
9 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at 48
10 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott at 48
11 Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac at 01:13
12 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb at 01:17
13 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb at 01:22
14 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin at 01:29
15 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb at 01:32
16 Carlos Alberto Betancur Gomez (Col) Movistar Team at 01:35
17 Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Dimension Data at 01:35
18 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates at 01:43
19 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky at 01:44
20 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Teamat 01:52

Selected others:

139 Adam Blythe (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport at 23:44
151 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky at 25:21
154 Mark Christian (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport at 25:34
188 Conor Dunne (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport at 34:06