Van den Berg sprints to Tour of Catalonia stage four win

Marijn van den Berg emerged triumphant from a bunch sprint finale to snatch stage four of the Tour of Catalonia on Thursday.

Two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar remains the race leader and firm favourite after flexing his muscles with sensational stage two and three wins.

EF Education-Easy Post rider Van den Berg prevailed in a blistering finish to the 169km run from Sort to Lleida to score his second World Tour victory.

The 24-year-old Dutchman, who was concussed in a crash in February, edged out second-place Arne Marit and Emils Liepins, third.

📹Torna a viure l'últim quilòmetre de l'arribada de la #VoltaCatalunya103 a @paerialleida. Victòria de @Marijn_Berg 🏆

💥Vuelve a disfrutar del último kilómetro de la cuarta etapa de la #VoltaCatalunya103.

📹Relive the last km of today's #VoltaCatalunya103 finish at Lleida! pic.twitter.com/bqovCNRLEy

— Volta a Catalunya (@VoltaCatalunya) March 21, 2024

"It was a really fast day ... (the home stretch) was quite hectic with all the roundabouts," Van den Berg told Teledeporte.

"I crashed quite hard in the Algarve, so I was out a little bit.

"I came here to focus on getting in shape again and see how the outcome would be on stages like today, and now I'm back on track I would say."

Stage five on Friday takes riders 167.5km from Altafulla to Viladecans and does not feature any notably difficult climbs.

Slovenian star Pogacar, two minutes and 27 seconds ahead of his closest challenger Mikel Landa, could effectively seal his victory on Saturday with a 6km climb to a mountain sanctuary at an average gradient of 7.2 per cent.

The UAE Team Emirates rider is aiming for an ambitious Giro-Tour double in 2024, with Marco Pantani the last to win both in 1998.