Cycling: Andreas Leknessund claims pink jersey on stage four of Giro d’Italia

Norway's Andreas Leknessund claimed the overall leader's pink jersey as Frenchman Aurelien Paret-Peintre took his maiden Grand Tour victory by edging a sprint finish to stage four of the Giro d'Italia on the summit at Lago Laceno.

Heavy rain saw the riders have to battle through wet conditions with a number of crashes early on during the 175kilometre medium mountain stage.

After a couple of unsuccessful breakaways, a small group was able to open up a gap with around 90km left and push the advantage on the main peloton to more than five minutes.

Heading into the final climb, Leknessund made a counter-attack, joined by Paret-Peintre and Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier.

As Leknessund set his sights on taking the Maglia Rosa from overnight leader Remco Evenepoel with another move at four kilometres out, Paret-Peintre kept pace before timing his own run for the line over the final 100 metres to claim victory for the AG2R-Citroen team.

Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo) took third place, while Primoz Roglic brought the main group home two minutes behind.

After also picking up bonus seconds earlier in the stage, Team DSM rider Leknessund took a 28-second lead over Evenepoel at the top of the general classification standings while Paret-Peintre sits two seconds further back.

"I came to the Giro with the aim of contesting stage victories. It was also the goal today, but it's super special to take the Maglia Rosa," said Leknessund, the first Norwegian in 42 years to wear the Giro's pink jersey.

"Only Knut Knudsen from Norway had it before me, but looking at who had the Maglia Rosa in the past few days and the impact of this jersey it is a great day in my career."

Britain's Geraint Thomas sits sixth, one minute and 26 seconds off the pace, with Ineos Grenadiers team-mate Tao Geoghegan Hart a further four seconds down in ninth.

Reflecting on his stage win, Paret-Peintre said: "The Giro d'Italia was my main objective this year. I came to ride for GC, but we also knew that today was a good day for a breakaway and we wanted a stage win for the team.

"It was super hard in the last climb, but after that I knew that my companion was going for the Maglia Rosa and the stage win was for me. I am delighted."