Brandon McNulty sprints to fourth place in the Volta a Catalunya

On a shortened stage 4 at the Volta a Catalunya, Brandon McNulty quietly continued his impressive start to the race, with the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider taking fourth place in an uphill sprint finish. It was not a finale that necessarily suited the climber, but McNulty surfed the right wheels in the closing kilometres and showed a nifty kick towards the line.

The result sees McNulty head into the final three stages sitting in seventh place overall, just 25 seconds down on the race lead of Dorion Godon (Ineos Grenadiers). McNulty’s teammate, João Almeida, also remains handily placed, with the Portuguese climber just 26 seconds down on the top of the standings.

On stage 4, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad was piloted into the final few kilometres by local favourite, Marc Soler, who ensured that McNulty was in the prime position under the flamme rouge. Benefitting from Soler’s selfless work, McNulty swung into the last corner in fourth wheel and maintained this place until the line.

With a good acceleration towards the finish, McNulty was able to hold onto fourth place and continue his consistent start to the week-long stage race.

Stage 4 had been scheduled to be the first summit finish of the race, but high winds at the summit of the last climb put an end to those plans. Instead, the day was brought to a close in Camprodón, with Ethan Vernon proving to be the day’s winner. Now, all eyes will turn to Friday’s stage, which will be the first mountainous test of the week.

A summit finish at La Molina awaits McNulty and UAE Team Emirates-XRG, with plenty of reason to be optimistic of a top result.

McNulty: “I felt ok today. The climb was removed so it was a bit of an easy day because there was a small breakaway and then a headwind. In the final, Marc [Soler] positioned me really well into the last 500m, and then I entered the final corner in fourth, and finished in fourth. For me it’s good because I am not usually sprinting, so it was good fun.

“Tomorrow will be the first GC test, so it will be much harder, but this is something for us to look forward to.”

Volta a Catalunya stage 4 results:

1. Ethan Vernon (NSN Cycling Team) 4:01:03

2. Dorion Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) s.t

3. Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling) s.t

4. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) s.t

Volta a Catalunya general classification after stage 4:

1. Dorion Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) 15:30:47

2. Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling) +13″

3. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +14″

7. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +25″