It was billed as the big day in the general classification, and stage 5 of the Vuelta a Andalucía did not disappoint with Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) storming to victory with an attack up the final climb, 5km from the finish.
Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) took second place, 10 seconds down, while Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United) completed the day’s podium a further two seconds back.
The overall title was taken by Iván Romeo (Movistar), who managed to hold on to his yellow jersey despite all the attacking. His team controlled things perfectly for the Spanish national champion, with him just having to really cover any moves by Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), who took second in the GC, seven seconds down, with Pidcock completing the final overall podium at 27 seconds.
Every stage of this race has been chaotic with amazingly aggressive racing from start to finish, and day five wasn’t any different, with the queen stage seeing the race blown apart by Pidcock and co after several attacks peppered the final 30km. The stage was very back-loaded with two ascents up the Alto de la Primera Cruz, where all the attacking happened.
“It was a really nice day. The first GC win was a big objective," said Romeo after the stage. “Without a time trial, it would be difficult, but I am in good form, my team were 11 out of 10, they were so good.
"Tactics to be with Lekenessund. Being in the form that I am in it was difficult for them to take time on me. The change of rhythm was hard but yeah, the team was brilliant and I deserve this. I think I have worked pretty hard this winter and I want to make a big step forward and I want to be the very best.”
“It feels great [to win]. Yesterday I was getting frustrated, you train so hard and put in so much work and miss opportunities," said stage winner Pidcock. “We let the GC go on one stage but today we took the opportunity. The team worked well and I finished it off. I feel like I can get into the season now that we've ticked off that first win.”
How it unfolded
The final stage of the Vuelta a Andalucía was the big day for the general classification riders, starting in La Roda de Andalucía with 167.6km of racing on the menu and two ascents of the Alto de la Primera Cruz before finishing in Lucena, where the overall winner was decided. The stage's total elevation was 2,280 metres.
Racing started in the usual attacking way with Estonian rider Romet Pajur (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) being the first to go clear. He was joined by Julius Johansen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who then dropped Pajur. The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider then got swallowed up by the bunch. Johansen was then joined by a new attacking group of Markus Hoelgaard (Uno-X Mobility) and Milan Vader (Pinarello-Q36.5). They quickly got a gap of 1:25 on the peloton.
Movistar took control of the peloton to work for race leader Iván Romeo, but seemed very happy with the break as they took their advantage to over 2:30.
Johansen took the first intermediate sprint in Montemayor with Hoelgaard and Vader following. The second intermediate sprint, which took place in Montilla, had the same result as the first, with Johansen rolling across in first ahead of Hoelgaard and Vader.
The gap started to come down again into the final 70km with Visma-Lease a Bike searching for another stage win after success on the opening day with Laporte.
All the teams on the front were keen to pull the time gap down to the leaders again, with the gap dropping under 1:30 with just over 40km to go. The three riders in the break all rode for key teams in the GC fight and could have been perfect as satellite riders. Even more key with the bonus seconds available on both ascents of the Alto de la Primera Cruz as well as more at the finish.
The gap was plummeting to the break as the race headed to the first ascent of the final climb, and as they started the climb, it was down to 20 seconds. In the bunch, Modern Adventure were the first team to try a move, but it was heavily marked as some of the big GC teams were starting to take control of things. Visma-Lease a Bike then took over the pacing to try and keep the pace hard but also consistent for Laporte to potentially survive and go for a sprint in Lucena.
The break was finally caught with 600 metres left on the first time up the climb, with 27km to go in the stage. It was Cofidis who led the way for their leader Alex Aranburu as he took three bonus seconds over the top.
Wave after wave of attacks off the front of the peloton at the top, with second division Spanish squads mixed in with Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates-XRG. All the hectic racing also saw a crash on a roundabout, with Laporte being one of the riders down on the asphalt in the points jersey. Unfortunately, the Frenchman abandoned the race after hitting the deck.
Romeo and Leknessund both sat back over the top of the climb and let other teams bring back the plethora of attacks that went off the front. Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike) was very keen to keep things together, though. They had lost Laporte but still had the likes of Axel Zingle in the bunch.
A big move came from Belgian champion Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and second overall Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility). Movistar were all over the move and dragged them back quickly. More moves continued to fly off the front of the whittled-down pack with Movistar keen to continue keeping it all together.
Campenaerts tried a solo move with Movistar not needing to chase; it was left to Uno-X Mobility, MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort and others to chase. Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) flew across to the Belgian leader.
The big Norwegian was riding a terrific race, and the move forced Cofidis to take over the chasing for Aranburu. Wærenskjold and Campenaerts were riding well, though. They led onto the foothills of the final climb with the latter distancing the Norwegian.
With 10km to go, Campenaerts still had a handful of seconds on the chasing bunch on a long false flat drag before the last time up the Alto de la Primera Cruz. He was caught just as they turned onto the final climb with Movistar returning to the front alongside Uno-X Mobility with 8km to go. Pinarello-Q36.5 took over on the early slopes for their leader, Pidcock.
He launched at 1km to the top of the climb with Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United), and nobody else was able to follow. Pidcock kicked again and dropped Grégoire, who was caught by Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). Pidcock led over the top of the climb and took the 3 bonus seconds with Christen second over the top.
The rider from Leeds in West Yorkshire steamed to the finish to take his and his team's first win of the season.
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