Tadej Pogačar took a dominant lead in the Vuelta after just four stages. (Getty Images: Alexander Hassenstein)
Tadej Pogačar won stage four of the Vuelta a España by 2 minutes and 39 seconds after a 50km solo attack.
Pogačar leads the general classification by 3: 21 over fellow Slovenian Primož Roglič.
Wednesday's fifth stage is a hilly 173.3km ride from Falset Costa Daurada to Terres de l'Ebre in Spain's north east.
Four days is all it took for Tadej Pogačar to end the Vuelta a España as a meaningful contest, the Slovenian great once again riding away from the peloton to win solo and establish a massive lead over the rest of the field.
It has been 32 years since Tony Rominger led a grand tour from start to finish when he won the 1994 Vuelta.
But with yet another thrilling display of daring, Pogačar put himself in pole position to emulate the Swiss rider and become just the ninth man to lead a three-week race from start to finish.
Superlatives have long been superfluous when writing about this Slovenian superstar.
Things that should not be possible are made to look routine.
When he hits the front of a race as the road goes into the mountains, the rest of the pack knows that their only chance is to ride at their own tempo.
Any attempt to fly too close to this generation's greatest star will surely send their hopes of finishing the race crashing to the ground, like Icarus.
As soon as Tadej Pogačar is in this position, that's likely to be the last the peloton sees of him. (Getty Images: Tim de Waele)
Pogačar took off with just over 50 kilometres remaining of the 104.8km circuit around Andorra la Vella to claim yet another dominant victory.
Decathlon CMA CGM put the power down at the bottom of the Collada de Beixalis climb, the second mountain of the day, and ripped the peloton to shreds.
Australian Jay Vine led the charge in support for the Slovenian's UAE Emirates XRG team, but with the pace already high, Pogačar upped his rate to burst clear.
