Slovenia's Primož Roglič won the fourth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country today ©Getty Images

Primož Roglič of Slovenia has won the fourth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country to move into second place in the overall classification.

Roglič, a member of the LottoNL-Jumbo team, continued his impressive form so far this season following his 2017 Volta ao Algarve success in February.

The 27-year-old made his final attack with five kilometres as he took advantage of a late crash to cross the line first in a time of 4 hours 23min 46sec.

Former race leader Michael Matthews of Australia attempted to catch Roglič in the final few hundred metres but the Team Sunweb rider had too much to do and was forced to finish in second.

Italy's Giovanni Visconti of Bahrain-Merida finished in third place.

Spain's defending champion Alberto Contador fell for a second time during the competition today ©Getty Images
Spain's defending champion Alberto Contador fell for a second time during the competition today ©Getty Images

Race leader David de la Cruz of Spain endured a disappointing day as he was caught up in the crash towards the final stages of the race, forcing him to finish in 11th place.

The Spaniard sits just one second ahead of Roglič in the overall classification, with Poland's Michal Kwiatkowski of Team Sky in third, three seconds back.

Defending champion Alberto Contador suffered his second crash of the event as he also fell towards the end of the race.

As a result, the Spaniard took 31st place.

The race, a part of the International Cycling Union World Tour, is due to resume tomorrow where the field will contest the penultimate stage before the race concludes on Saturday (April 8).