Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) produced a virtuoso climbing display to beat Nairo Quintana (Movistar) into second place on the stage four of Tirreno-Adriatico, as Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) held on to the overall lead.

With teammate Roman Kreuziger attacking early on the final climb, the Spaniard was able to bide his time before following an attack by Quintana with 3km to go.

Such a move was an obvious threat to Kwiatkowski, who worked hard with Richie Porte (Team Sky) to bring the race back together within the last kilometre, before Contador and Quintana again jumped clear in the final 500m to contest the stage win.

With the 244km stage between Idicatore and Cittareale providing the longest day's racing of the season so far, there was no fuss when the early break of Maxim Belkov (Katusha), Matthias Brandle (IAM Cycling), Filippo Fortin (Bardiani-CSF), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Lloyd Mondory (Ag2r-La Mondiale), and Alexandre Pichot (Europcar) formed after six kilometres.

At the midway point the six were enjoying a lead of over seven minutes, but the tough Forca Capistrello climb forced a split, with Brandle, Lutsenko, and Mondory going clear with 63km remaining.

Behind it was Movistar driving the pace with the final climb on the horizon, and as Mondory crashed out of the break, Brandle and Lutsenko lost both their legs and their nerve, getting caught on the lower slopes of the climb.

But the race was not together for long, with Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani-CSF) being the first to attack, provoking reactions from Kreuziger and Benat Intxausti (Movistar). However it was Kreuziger who proved the strongest, grinding his rivals into submission as he powered away in the big ring.

With Pirazzi and Intxausti back in the main group the counter attacks began. Michele Scarponi (Astana) and Robert Kiserlovski (Trek Factory Racing) were the first two to open a gap, and were quickly joined by Quintana and Contador, as Kreuziger eased off to wait for his team leader.

However, thanks to excellent work from Wout Poels, race leader Michal Kwiatkowski was able to claw himself, as well as the likes of Porte, Horner (Lampre-Merida), and Moreno (Katusha), up to the back wheels of Contador and Quintana as the race entered the final kilometre.

With the big names looking at each other, it was Scarponi who tried to steal a march, but he was quickly closed down by Porte, before Quintana and Contador came over the top, with the latter able to hold off the advances of the Colombian to take the spoils at the finish.

Daniel Moreno emerged to take third spot while Kwiatkowski battled to tenth on the line, meaning he will take a 16 second advantage over Contador into tomorrow's steep hill-top finish at Guardiagrele.

Stage 4 Result: Indicatore (Arezzo) - Cittareale (Selva Rotonda), 244km

1. Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff-Saxo 6:39:56

2. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar 0:00:01

3. Daniel Moreno (Esp) Katusha 0:00:05

4. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff-Saxo

5. Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky

6. Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana 0:00:08

7. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 0:00:10

8. Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Trek Factory Racing 0:00:11

9. Chris Horner (USA) Lampre-Merida

10. Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Katusha 0:00:17

General Classification after Stage 4

1. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 16:06:42

2. Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff-Saxo 00:00:16

3. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar 00:00:23

4. Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky 00:00:34

5. Rigoberto Uran (Col) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 00:00:38

6. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff-Saxo 00:00:39

7. Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Trek Factory Racing 00:00:49

8. Moreno Moser (Ita) Cannondale 00:01:01

9. Mikel Nieve (Esp) Team Sky 00:01:02

10. Julian Arrendondo (Col) Trek Factory Racing 00:01:03

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