A gutsy late attack almost paid off in a big way for Nicolas Roche after the Irishman was caught in the final metres of stage four at the Vuelta a Espana.

The Team Sky rider sat in a good position on the day's tricky final climb before jumping on an attack from Samuel Sanchez with 1.8 kilometres to go in Vejer de la Frontera.

On the uphill ramp to the line Roche pushed clear of the BMC Racing rider, but began to tie up in the final 100 metres and was narrowly overhauled at the line by the chasing pack in a thrilling finish.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) accelerated through to take the stage win ahead of day three victor Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo). Roche held on for a brave fourth, a result that allowed him to retain third place overall, 12 seconds back on the red jersey.

Chris Froome also finished safely on the stage, 15th across the line and sits ninth on the general classification, 40 seconds behind continued race leader Johan Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge).

It was a strong day all round for Team Sky, with Mikel Nieve and Sergio Henao finishing well to sit 12th and 14th overall respectively. That consistency also saw the team extend their advantage in the team classification to 33 seconds.

After lengthy 209.6km test the remnants of a six-man break were swept up on the approach to the finish. Positioning ahead of the steep late climb was key, with Geraint Thomas delivering a late drive to help put his team-mates on the front foot.

At one point it had looked doubtful for the peloton as the day's break opened out a mammoth advantage of 13:30.

“Today I thought I’d chance it, you know,” Roche said. “These are the types of finishes that I usually like and I thought I might as well make the most of my form on these types of finishes at the start of the Vuelta.

“When I saw Samu go, I thought this is great because I could get a bit of a head start on that last kick but when I looked back at that 175 metres to go sign, I could just feel the air coming from behind and I said ‘Aw.’ That was it and Valverde won.”

"What was missing? Fifty metres. I just happened to ride against a rider who's stronger than me and whose name is Valverde. I feel I timed it right. I went at the right time and I did not make any gear mistakes. I had to play it clever because I don't necessarily have the finish of a rider like Valverde. The form is here. I always try to do well at the beginning of the Vuelta. It wasn't to be this time though.

“There’s a bit more freedom than at the Tour. We have [Mikel] Nieve, [Sergio] Henao and myself on the climbs, and I have a little bit more freedom on these first few short climbs.

“At the Tour it’s quite different. You can’t afford to lose any energy, you need to have the strongest rider and have the strongest team around him. But in the Vuelta or the Giro, you can play your cards a bit differently, so it’s great that the team are letting me go with the flow a bit on these short climbs.

“At this stage, if he [Froome] wasn’t ready he would have done another programme so I strongly believe that the Vuelta is right for him. It’s a perfect TT for him and I know it’s two weeks away and there’s a long way to get there, but I think that TT is really suited to him.

“Even if he was only at 90 per cent, he’s still Christopher Froome, twice winner of the Tour de France, so I’m confident in my team leader and the team.”

"It was a close one at the finish and a great effort," confirmed Sports Director Dario Cioni. "If you look at the results it was a pretty good day for the team. The guys were up there in a good position on the final climb. It was a hard finish, and that, coupled with the heat and the length of the stage made it a much tougher stage than people maybe expected.

"The guys did a good job. We had three punctures in the final which made things a bit more interesting but everyone was able to get back in time which is the main thing.

"We have riders in a good position. Nico is third and Froomey is also there in the top 10 as well as Sergio and Mikel. The important thing in this first week for Froomey is to limit losses, especially on these punchy climbs. We're getting better day after day and the big targets begin towards the end of this week, and then plenty more into the second week."