Chris Froome loses ground on Giro d'Italia leaders as Tim Wellens wins stage four

Tim Wellens won the fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia as a late split in the peloton cost Team Sky's Chris Froome valuable time in his pursuit of the race win.

Following Monday's first rest day, the race took to Italian soil for the first time this year, and while Belgian rider Wellens who came out on top in a sprint finish, Froome's hopes of a third straight Grand Tour victory took another hit.

Wellens held off Canadian Michael Woods and Italy's Enrico Battaglin in the uphill sprint following the 202km ride between Catania and Caltagirone in Sicily after the race had started in Jerusalem followed by two more stages in Israel.

For Lotto rider Wellens it was a second career win in the Giro - two years after his first. The 26-year-old has claimed one-day race wins such as the Montreal GP in 2015 and stage races including the Eneco Tour and the Tour of Poland.

Britain's four-time Tour de France winner Froome lost 23 seconds on his rivals on the final climb as Australian Rohan Dennis retained the overall leader's pink jersey after the first of three days on the Mediterranean island.

Froome is now almost a minute behind Dennis but the news is better for fellow Briton Simon Yates who finished fourth for the stage and made up four seconds on the race leader, closing to within 17 seconds of the overall race lead and moving into third spot.

The race itself was built around a five-man breakaway - Enrico Barbin, Jacopo Mosca, Quentin Jauregui, Maxim Belkov and Marco Frapporti - who opened up a four-minute lead before being caught 13km from the line and the climb towards Caltagirone.

In the final push, Italy's Valerio Conti showed his ambitions up front but was reeled in with three kilometres to go as Wellens took the glory.

Wednesday's fifth stage will cover 153km between Agrigente and Santa Ninfa.

Stage 4 Result (Catania - Caltagirone - 202km)

.1. Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Fix All 5hrs 17mins 34secs

.2. Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale at same time

.3. Enrico Battaglin (Ita) LottoNL-Jumbo

.4. Simon Yates (Gbr) Mitchelton-Scott

.5. Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe all at same time

.6. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Mitchelton-Scott at 04secs

.7. Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe at same time

.8. Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team

.9. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida

.10. Esteban Chaves (Col) Mitchelton-Scott,

General classification (after Stage 4)

.1. Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 14hrs 23mins 08secs

.2. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb at 01sec

.3. Simon Yates (Gbr) Mitchelton-Scott at 17secs

.4. Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Fix All at 19secs

.5. Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team at 25secs

.6. Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors at 28secs

.7. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida at same time

.8. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ at 34secs

.9. Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe at 35secs

10 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team at same time

Selected Others

.20. Chris Froome (Gbr) Team Sky at 55secs