Behind Kopecky, another former world champion, her team-mate Anna van der Breggen, finished second and thus collected a few important bonuses in the battle for the Vuelta victory. Letizia Paternoster (Liv AlUla Jayco) came third on the day. Koch finished in fifth place. Liane Lippert (Movistar), who was already in first place two bends before the finish line and was therefore riding in the wind for a long time, ended up in seventh place.

For a long time, it looked as if the stage win could go to two breakaway riders who had a one-minute lead six kilometres before the finish, but were suddenly caught three kilometres later. "For a moment I thought that we wouldn't be able to catch up with the leaders," said Kopecky. "But then the pace in the peloton was simply unbelievably fast." It was the third win of the season for the 30-year-old, who had already finished second twice during the race.

"It was important that we remained patient. We always believed that we could win, but we had to wait a bit. It was actually the easiest stage today," she said, seeming a little surprised herself that she was almost unrivalled in the sprint. But there are no classic sprinters in the peloton at the Tour of Spain.

From Monforte de Lemos to Antas de Ulla, 116 kilometres were on the agenda, with two mountain classifications to be crossed. The profile of the finale was somewhat easier than on the previous days, but still caused problems for some of the women. And so it was Kopecky who took the victory and thus also took the lead in the overall standings, which was just a nice side effect for her: "Wearing a jersey is always nice. But we are primarily chasing stage wins."

Vuelta Femenina 2026 - Results of the 4th stage

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How the 4th stage of the Vuelta Femenina 2026 went

A good ten kilometres had to be ridden before the first attacks were launched. While the first women were quickly brought back, Annelies Nijssen (Lotto Intermarché Ladies) and Marine Allione (Mayenne Monbana My Pie) were able to break away on the climb to the Alto de Oural (3rd category). The two women were the first to make it over the mountain classification, behind them Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) secured two points from the peloton ahead of Asleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance - Soudal Team) - the duo had been leading the fight for the mountain jersey so far.

As the gap remained small, first Lauretta Hanson (Lidl - Trek) and later Marta Jaskulska (Human Powered Health) made the jump to the front. As a quartet, the leaders extended their lead to over three minutes. When the second categorised climb of the day, the Alto de A Vacariza (3rd category), came after 80 kilometres, the gap shrank to two and a half minutes. Allionne also secured this mountain classification after the first and thus took the jersey from Moolman-Pasio.

Distance between the outliers collapses completely

At the top, however, there were still just under two minutes left - with 25 kilometres to go and no major hurdles to overcome, the group had to start thinking about a possible stage win. SD Worx - Protime then took over the chase in the peloton. With 14 kilometres to go, the lead was approaching a minute. Jaskulska stepped up the pace, only Hanson stayed with her.

Six kilometres before the finish, the two women at the front still had a one-minute lead, but then the pace really picked up at the back. One kilometre later, the intermediate sprint was taken. Koch secured the remaining two seconds there. And suddenly the lead was down to 35 seconds.

The peloton attacked. No one was able to break away, but 2.5 kilometres before the finish the escapees were suddenly caught. And so it went into the bunch sprint. Lippert set off on an excessively long 500 metre sprint two bends before the end, but didn't have the legs to make it to the finish line, especially as she was in the wind the whole time. Kopecky, on the other hand, was cleverer and took the stage win and red, as Koch did not make it into the bonifications.