Dutch rider Wouter Poels of the Omega Pharma-QuickStep team won the fourth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country on Thursday as Alberto Contador maintained his overall lead. However, Spanish star Contador, of the Tinkoff-Saxo team, saw his compatriot Alejandro Valverde shave two seconds off his race lead, which now stands at 12 seconds.
Poels won the 151-kilometre ride from Vitoria to Eibar after making a late attack on the final climb, the 26-year-old beating Movistar rider Valverde and another Spaniard, Samuel Sanchez of BMC, by one second.