Rodriguez powers to stage 5 win

Image 1 of 29

Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Katusha Team) powered to a stage victory on Friday for the second day in a row at Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco. He sprinted to the finish ahead of Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Euskaltel - Euskadi) and Robert Kiserlovski (Astana Pro Team).

"Today it was a crazy stage," said Rodriguez. "The group kept an incredible pace, many riders had an interest in the stage and general classification; in fact, the breakaway started quite late in the route. I did my best because I knew I could win and, most of all, I had to."

With about 3km to go on the Garagaltza uphill, with its 11 percent grade over 900m, Rodriguez and Sanchez attacked the chase group and half a kilometer later, they'd caught up to Kiserlovski, who had been off the front for 50km.

The two Spaniards took turns attacking each other in the final kilometers. Kiserlovski fell off their pace, then caught back up, but was clearly toasted after his breakaway efforts at the front and that left Rodriguez and Sanchez to go head to head in the final sprint. Rodriguez was better positioned to launch his final sprint coming out of the last bend with 200m to go.

"I felt strong. I wanted to keep the leader's jersey and gain as many seconds as I could before tomorrow's individual time trial," said Rodriguez. "In the last kilometres, I left the responsibility to Sanchez. I think he has some chance to win the overall standings. Instead, after today's performance, I think it will be a little easier to make the final podium."

With his stage win, Rodriguez kept his yellow race leader's jersey. He has nine seconds on Sanchez and 56 seconds on Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) with tomorrow's final stage to be contested as a time trial.

"I gained some seconds, but even if it's not a classic race against the clock, with many downhills, it will be hard for me to keep ahead of the competition, even if obviously I'll do my best," said Rodriguez. "Tony Martin is 56 seconds back so far, but let's not forget he's the TT world champion."

The 183km stage from Bera to Onati featured three third category and two second category races, and on paper the stage wasn't too hard; however, a strong rain fell virtually all day long.

16 riders successfully escaped the safe confines of the main peloton, but once they were caught, a group of nine new riders took off. Behind, the main field was totally destroyed into bits and pieces.

With 29 kilometers to go, Kiserlovski attacked from the leading group leaving Team Saxo Bank's Hernandez with Marco Pinotti (BMC) and Adriano Malori (Lampre) on the chase.

With 10 kilometers to go, Kiserlovski was on his own against a big group of favorites chasing him.

Full Results