Kaufmann and Kaess win penultimate Andalucia stage

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German team Centurion Vaude's Markus Kaufmann and Jochen Kass clinched victory once again in Andalucía Bike Race and solidified their overall lead. This time it was on the 80km stage 5, and just one stage remains in the race.

Their objective was to win the stage en route to clinching the overall title, which is likely to happen tomorrow.

Although this has been the tightest edition of the race so far, with four teams contesting for the win, the truth is that Kaufmann and Kaess have thus far been the strongest, even considering the three sprint finishes so far.

Topeak Ergon's Robert Mennen and Kristian Hynek, who were second going into today, had a mechanical today and then in their haste to catch up, got confused at a crossroads and got lost. That resulted in a time penalty and the loss of any chance to win the overall.

Spaniards Alejandro Díaz de la Pena and Pedro Romero were second today on the stage and moved into second in the overall. Diaz de la Pena, who had a big fall in yesterday´s stage, declared that he "writhed in pain" every time he pushed on his pedals, but they both rode on until the end of the stage.

Among the women, Anna Villar and Merce Pacios did not recover from illness so Sandra Santanyes and Claudia Galicia retained the overall lead without challenge, ahead of Muriel Bouhet and Susana Alonso.

Milena Landtwing and Philipp Gerber continue to lead the mixed category.

The race finishes tomorrow during stage 6 over 60km. As of today, 660 racers out of 716 remain in the race.

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