Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) held off attacks from his rivals on the steeper sections of the final ascent to secure the overall victory Kämna was part of a 17-man breakaway which had a gap of two minutes on the bunch approaching the climb to the finish The German was aided by teammate Emanuel Buchmann to launch his efforts at the front with three kilometres remaining and took his fourth career victory Miguel Ángel López (Astana Qazaqstan Team) Cristián Rodríguez (TotalEnergies) finished the stage strongly for second overall beating a fading López who would finish on the final podium spot and not replicating his overall title from a year ago Poels took over the race lead as well.  It was from a front group of 14 riders that Poels launched his attack with 15km to go in the penultimate stage the pair generated a lead of 29 seconds over the chasers with 12 kilometres to the finish to set up the duel.  Defending Ruta del Sol champion Miguel Ángel López (Astana Qazaqstan) was part of that same group and finished 10th in the bunch sprint keeping him second overall in the GC standing Cristian Rodriguez Martin (TotalEnergies) moved to third overall defined by 2,987 metres of climbing over 167.4 kilometres the first-category Alto del El Higueral punishing the peloton just 29km from the start in Cúllar Vega.  It was the first professional win the 19-year-old American who had worked his way into a select lead group and used his time trialing skills to create a gap for the solo victory a crash took down his teammate Jhonatan Narváez Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates) kept his overall leader's jersey by eight seconds after 153.2 kilometres across four categorised climbs Miguel Angel López (Astana Qazaqstan Team) was second with Clarke in third He attacked in the final kilometre and used two explosive kicks to hold off Miguel Ángel López (Astana Qazaqstan) for the victory From the closing bunch on the twisting uphill finish four seconds back and narrowly edging  Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) for the final podium spot Rune Herregodts (Sport Vlaanderen Baloise) who wore the yellow leader's jersey courtesy of his stage 1 victory faded from the front group with two kilometres to go which gave Covi the overall lead heading to Friday Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH) is second overall The difficult category-1 Alto del Purche will be on the menu just 21.6km from the start in Cúllar Vega. After two more categorised climbs the peloton will find its way to the finish in Baza. Organisers saved the best for last this year with the 146.4km stage 5 from Huesa to the final 7km ascent to the mountain village of Chiclana de Segura, moved from its mid-race position from 2021. Of note is that Ruta del Sol does not include bonus seconds for any of the stages, so that will play into the GC battle. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Soccer Laduma (@soccer_laduma) Local International Off The Pitch Podcasts & Videos Players Abroad Read: Official: Bafana Fail To Qualify For Afcon After Sudan Loss While it is evident that South Africa as a country is not exporting footballing talent to some of the most prestigious leagues in Europe as it did in yesteryear there is a small contingent of players who are going about their business in lesser known parts of Europe.  One of those players is former Bidvest Wits striker Muhammad Zaid Patel who currently heads up the scoring charts in Spain's fourth Division Andaluza Senior League for Cullar Vega CF who has been moving around in Spain's lower divisions for the past seven months after struggling to find a club in Mzansi is showing glimpses of the potential he displayed when he broke into the professional ranks at the age of 17 it is only a matter of time before Patel secures a move to a bigger league in the near future Another player who is setting the scene alight this season is Finland-based striker Darren Smith who has continued his rich vein in form from last season the 25-year-old has made four appearances for his new side and he has managed to chip in with four goal contributions scoring two goals and assisting twice in his first season with the club Read: Bafana Confirm Starting XI, No TV Coverage! Last season Smith was crowned the second division's Golden Boot winner after netting 18 goals in 22 league appearances for Ekenäs in the 2020 Ykkönen campaign Click through the gallery to see the rest of the players making their mark abroad