British youngster Harry Tanfield continues his voyage of discovery in the Vuelta a España. The Spanish race is the second half of a tumultuous season in which he will make his first Grand Tour debut in AG2R La Mondiale.

The Yorkshire native moved to a French team in November 2019 after the team he turned pro with, Katusha-Alpecin, disbanded; in 2018 he became the first contender to win a stage of the Tour de Yorkshire at the British Continental level. He had established himself as an attack rider, but was hampered by a knee injury last season.

This year, the COVID-19 pandemic kept him out of racing for five months, but Tanfield returned to the World Tour at the Tour de Pollogne. On Friday, four stages into his Vuelta debut, he joined the day's breakaway group on the windswept plains of Aragon. [He led with former teammate Willi Smit, now with Burgos-BH, Smit's teammate Jesús Esquerra, and Cofidis' Luis Ángel Mate. But on the flat stage, the first chance for the sprinters, it was a hopeless effort.

"Willi was on the team last year and he roared off at the start," Tanfield said after the stage. 'After they both went, I just rode through the gap. I didn't get out of the saddle and ran at 800 watts.

"I wasn't interested in the back; there were four of us and it was a clear day. I knew I was going to be fast, so I put on 55, but honestly I wanted 56. I think my average was around 49 or 50 (km/h)."

Tanfield, who averaged 49.26 km/h, had about the same time, thanks in part to a tailwind heading east from the galleys to Ejea de los Caballeros. In the peloton, Movistar also contributed mid-stage, pulling the pack back to within 30 seconds with 80 km to go.

"I kept riding and it was good," Tanfield said. But on the descents I had to push most of the time because the peloton was so fast. At one point I think I had three or four minutes."

After suffering through the first three days of the Vuelta and a number of big climbs, Tanfield said he was surprised that he was doing so well on stage 4.

He managed to pull away from his breakaway mates to win the stage's only prize, the intermediate sprint in Sadaba.

"I was surprised how good my legs were today," he said. 'I had good legs today after not being that good the first three days. I was happy with the way my legs worked. I tried to sprint at the end, but Willi wouldn't let me have a turn and attacked me on the climb."

"I tried to pass him back but I had a good draft from my old moto so I couldn't pass him back. It was a good day and I gave it everything I had."