Vuelta a Espana: Lutsenko wins on stage 5

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Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) won stage 5 of the Vuelta a España after dropping the last of his breakaway companions on the short, steep haul to the finish at Alcossebre, while Chris Froome (Sky) buttressed his lead atop the overall standings with an acceleration in the final kilometre.

Froome crossed the line in the company of Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo), Michael Woods (Cannondale-Drapac) and Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott), 4:31 down on Lutsenko, but ahead of some of his key rivals for final overall victory.

Sky's Gianni Moscon – ostensibly a man for the cobbled Classics – whittled down the red jersey group by setting a stinging pace on the final climb of Ermita Santa Lucia before Froome delivered a rasping chase in the closing metres.

By the time Contador took over in the finishing straight, only four men remained in the red jersey group, while others incurred losses of varying significance: Fabio Aru (Astana) conceded 11 seconds to Froome, Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) lost 26 seconds and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) coughed up 49 seconds.

Tejay van Garderen (BMC) rode well to limit the damage in the final kilometre, and the American moves up to second overall, 10 seconds behind Froome, with Chaves a further second back in third.

The stage winner Lutsenko was part of the 16-man break that forged clear in the opening kilometres, and the Kazakhstani rider was live to the danger when Marco Haller (Katusha-Alpecin) ghosted off the front on the descent of the Alto de la Serratella with 47 kilometres remaining.

The duo took advantage of the lack of cohesion in the chasing group to reach the foot of the final ascent with a lead of half a minute, and Lutsenko promptly dropped Haller as soon as the gradient began to bite in earnest with three kilometres to go.

Despite a spirited chase from Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data), who dropped Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale) around the same point, Lutsenko always looked a likely stage winner, and he made light work of the final climb to claim the biggest victory of his career.

Kudus came home in second place, 42 seconds down, having caught and passed Haller, while Marc Soler (Movistar) took third, 56 seconds behind Lutsenko. World champion as an espoir in Valkenburg in 2012, Lutsenko's versatility has seen him win stages at Paris-Nice and the Tour de Suisse, and deliver some solid displays in the cobbled Classics.

"In 2014, I did my first Vuelta and managed to get a second place, but this is the biggest win of my career, no doubt," Lutsenko said afterwards. "It was very hard before the final climb, and we were a bit alone out there. Into the headwind, we knew it would be tough, especially with lots of guys chasing behind. In the end, it was a great stage for me, and I want to thank my teammates."

How it unfolded

The break of the day formed in three instalments after the race left the start in Benicassim, with Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) leading a nine-man squadron clear after six kilometres, and seven chasers bridging up to them shortly afterwards, before Matvey Mamykin (Katusha-Alpecin) made it across alone to bring the complement up to 17 riders.

The group, comprising Mamykin, Alaphilippe, Rubén Fernandez, Marc Soler (Movistar Team), Michael Schwarzmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Davide Villella (Cannondale-Drapac), Marco Haller (Katusha-Alpecin), Matej Mohoric (UAE Team Emirates), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Valerio Agnoli (Bahrain-Merida), Jérémy Maison (FDJ), Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data), Lluis Mas, Hector Saez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Michel Kreder (Aqua Blue Sport) and Jetse Bol (Manzana-Postobón) maintained a lead of around five minutes over the peloton for the bulk of the day.

With Bol the nearest threat on general classification, Sky were content to grant the group its freedom, and Villella augmented his lead in mountains classification on a rugged day of racing that included the climbs of Alto del Desierto de las Palmas, Alto de Cabanes, Coll de la Bandereta and the Alto de la Serratella.

Indeed, the pace relented in the peloton on the Serratella, with the break's lead suddenly ratcheting up to seven minutes, but just as Bol began to entertain thoughts of an unlikely stint in the red, the unity of the leading group was fractured by Haller's attack on the descent.

Lutsenko initially had Mohoric for company when he bridged across to Haller, but he distanced the Slovenian soon afterwards. Haller and Lutsenko combined well thereafter to hold off the splintered chasing group, where a frustrated Alaphilippe was struggling to find any allies of circumstance.

Instead, the most spirited chase came from Gougeard and Kudus, who set off in pursuit with 12 kilometres remaining, though they never succeeded in closing within half a minute of the two leaders.

Once the 3.4-kilometre climb to the line began, Lutsenko's quality as a puncheur won out, as he distanced Haller with one, steady acceleration, and then maintained his tempo to the summit to claim the stage honours.

Under normal circumstances, Kudus would have thrived on a climb like the Ermita Santa Lucia, but the Eritrean had to settle for second place on the stage and explained that a long day off the front had taken its toll. "With the uphill finish, it was quite hard to be in the break at the start. The last climb was steep and hard, especially after riding for four hours into a headwind and chasing the guys at the front," he said. "It was a super hard race."

It was equally difficult behind, at least once Froome's Sky train upped the reins once again on the run-in to the final climb. The infernal tempo laid down by the surprising Moscon ultimately proved too much for a number of fancied names, Bardet and Nibali among them, while Froome and Chaves confirmed the initial impressions of Monday's opening mountain stage in Andorra.

Contador, on the other hand, could draw solace from his display here. The Spaniard's final Vuelta looked set to be a disappointing one when he conceded more than two minutes in Andorra. He showed signs of a revival here, though he remains 3:10 behind Froome in the overall standings.

"My sensations were better than they have been for the past few days, and I'm pretty happy with how it went. We still have quite a bit of work to do. I'm reasonably happy with how it is going," Contador said. "The crowd was really impressive, and I'm happy that I could do something for them."

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