Tirreno-Adriatico 2017: Stage 5

Stage five of Tirreno-Adriatico resembles a Belgian Spring Classic with multiple short, steep (but unranked) climbs in the last half, as the peloton makes its way finally to the Adriatic coast.

Tirreno-Adriatico 2017 race preview
Tirreno-Adriatico 2017 start list
Quintana wins stage 4 atop Terminillo
Stage 4 video highlights
Quintana overcomes bronchitis to dominate at Tirreno-Adriatico

Welcome back to our live coverage of the 2017 Tirreno-Adriatico. Stage 5 takes us 210 kilometers from Rieti to Fermo. This has been called the 'Muri' or wall stage due to the series of short, steep climbs in the final 90km. Action will get underway shortly.

We have one prominent DNS today: Astana has announced that Fabio Aru ‘”suffered of a tracheobronchial acute bronchitis with fever. Therefore it was decided not to start today for the 5th stage.” Which certainly explains why he lost four minutes yesterday. Get well soon!

We have two more DNS today. Team Novo Nordisk reports that Charles Pllanet and Romain Gioux have been struck down by intestinal problems. 

The stage has begun! Off they go.....

Saturday was quite a day for Colombian cycling. Nairo Quitana won the stage here and took the overall lead, and Sergio Henao (Sky) topped the GC in Paris-Nice going into the final stage. Congratulations!

We have a birthday today in the peloton. Manuele Boari of Bahrain Merida has turned 30. We wish him a good day and all the best!

This is what Steve Farrand has to say about today’s stage:

@TirrenAdriatico Sun, 12th Mar 2017 10:12:28

You can read the entire race preview here.

On Saturday Nairo Quintana (Movistar) blasted his way to the stage win and head of the GC, soloing in to the top of the Terminilla. You can read about it here.

Apparently we have no break attempts yet in the race. Guess there is enough time for that later on i this long stage.

By the way we have already covered 20 km.

Alternatively, you can watch our video highlights of stage 4 here.

After 35 km, it looks like we finally have an escape! 11 riders, followed by Cesare Benedetti (Bora) at 0:20 and the peloton at 0:42. Now, if we could just get those 11 names....

The lucky 11 are: Moreno Moser (Astana), Maxime Monfort (Lotto Soudal), Niki Terpstra (Quick Step), Steve Cummings (Dimension Data), Maurits Lammertink (Katjoesja), Gianna Moscon (Sky), Filippo Ganna (UAE), Marco Canola (Vini Fantini), Alexis Gougeard (AG2R), Scott Thwaites (Dimension Data) and Davide Ballerini (Androni).

As expected, the mountain stage totally changed the GC. Here the new top ten:

1 Nairo Quintna (Movistar) 16:34.46

2 Adam Yates Orica-Scott 0:33

3 Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) 0:56

4 Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar) 1:01

5 Rohan Dennis (BMC) 1:06

6 Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) 1:19

7 Primoz Ruglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) 1:19

8 Geraint Thomas (Sky) 1:23

9 Daniel Moreno (Movistar) 1:27

10 Domenico Pozzovivo 1:29

Benedetti is back in the peloton.

163km remaining from 209km

The group has definitely established itself with a 2:27 lead. 

Mirco Maestri (Bardiani) leads the points ranking with 30 points, ahead of Geraint Thomas (Sky) 22 points and Peter Sagan (20).

In the mountains, of course Quintana has taken the lead. Following him are Davide Ballerini (Androni Giacattoli) and Alan Marangoni (Nippo Vini Fantini).

Here is an update on Aru and his bronchitis.

Adam Yates (Orica Scott) is now the best young rider, ahead of Bob Jungels (Quick Step Floors) and Egan Bernal (Androni Giacattoli).

With three riders in the top ten, Movistar obviously tops the best team rankings.

The gap is up to 4 minutes now, but sadly we don't have the kms.

Geraint Thomas (Sky) was pleased with his results yesterday. "I didn't really know what to expect, it's the first mountaintop of the season. I've been feeling pretty good, so yeah, I'm pretty happy with that,” he said.

@TirrenAdriatico Sun, 12th Mar 2017 11:52:12

Quintana must really be strong to ride like that while recovering from bronchitis.

129km remaining from 209km

The peloton certainly doesn't want this group -- or any group, most likely -- to get away. After 80 km, the gap is down to 2 minutes.

Cannondale is leading the chase.

Adam Yates showed that he is ready to lead Orica Scott at the Giro this spring with his strong performance in the Tirreno Queen stage.

Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) kept trying to force the action and get away yesterday. He admits he may have tried too often. “Once again the team did a really good job of putting me in position and protecting me all day,” he said on the team website. “I was a little enthusiastic with my attack and I think that cost me some energy in the end meaning I couldn’t move up any further in the GC. Overall it was a good day for me and the team.”

We aren't the only race going on today! Over in Paris-Nice they are climbing mountains again -- check our live report here!

Well, that posting didn't work out, did it....

Everyone has passed through the feed zone and the gap is still around two minutes.

Rohan Dennis thinks he can still scramble onto the final Tirreno podium with a good time trial. 

At the day's first intermediate sprint, Moscon take the points ahead of Lammertink, Ballerini and Terpstra.

Moscon, you will recall, is the one who crashed in the opening team trial when his front wheel so dramatically blew apart. He left a lot of skin on the pavement in that incident, so it is nice to see he is feeling well.

97km remaining from 209km

97 km to go in the beautiful sunshine!

And the gap has fallen to 1:22

On the way to the first ranked climb it looks as if Lammertink has taken off in a solo effort.

Both Lammertink and Gougeard have taken off out of the break group. We now have Lammertink in front, Gougeard at 10 seconds and 11 chasers at 40 seconds, with the field at 1:20.

That is still 11 chasers as Simon Clarke (Cannondale) and Kanstantsin Siutsou (Bahrain Merida) have left the peloton and joined the forward group.

With 91.5 km left, it looks as if the field has caught the 11 man break group.

We have a handful of riders ahead of the field.

As far as we know, Lammertink and Gourgeard are still ahed, but things are a bit confusing at the moment.

Looks like Lammertink ahead of Gougeard, then six riders ahead of a rather scattered peloton.

The field has caught those six riders. The pace is very high!

We are in the last 80 km and that means we will be having a lot of climbing!

A group of about 30 has gotten away. Let's see if they can stay away....

With 80 km to go, word is that Yates has been dropped from the peloton.

In fact Yates has dropped back to the team car nd it looks as if he is dropping out of the race.

He has indeed. We don't yet know why.

Things are changing by the minute. We now have four leaders: Matteo Cattaneo (Androni), Bob Jungels (Quick Step), Mikel Landa (Sky) and Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal). With 75 km to go, they have 20 seconds.

Movistar doesn't like this group, as Jungels could challenge for the lead if he gets away. so they are giving chase hard.

We now hear that Yates was having stomach/intestinal problems. 

71km remaining from 209km

71 km to go and the gap is at a minute.

Yates was, of course, 2d in GC and at 33 seconds, just about the only one who could seriously challenge Quintana.

60km remaining from 209km

The field is keeping this group on a short leash, only letting them get 1:05 away.

65km remaining from 209km

The gap is down to 49 seconds. Teh group is determined to get away but the peloton is equally determined not to let them do so.

The next intermediate sprint is a uphill one, which is interesting.

There were cobblestones involved as well. Unfortunately no on feels the need to tell us who won that sprint.

All we have to do is complain and we get the answer. Cattaneo ahead of Jungels and Meana.

@TeamUAEAbuDhabi Sun, 12th Mar 2017 13:46:37

46km remaining from 209km

46 km left and the gap has dropped to only 20 seconds.

 With 44 km, the group of four is caught.

Up another climb, with Kwiatkowski at the front. Dennis is near the front too.

Kwiatkowski jumps! They are letting him go, but does he think he can go all the remaining difficult 42 km alone?

Another handful of riders gives chase.

So much for that. Everyone back together. 

35km remaining from 209km

With 35 km to go, the peloton is bunched together and the pace has dropped.

Feline and Gatto have attacked.

Kwiatkowski has once again jumped to try to bridge up.

More riders are trying to move up s well, some half dozen between the three leaders and the peloton.

Looks like Van Garderen, Maijka and Amador have joined the leaders.

Kwiatkowski leads everyone over this climb, with its 12%, but the peloton is not far behind.

29km remaining from 209km

It looks like it is pretty much all back together.

They are now all tearing down the descent.

The peloton is getting continually smaller and at the moment is broken into small groups on this descent.

More attaks, with GAtto and Dumoulin featured.

27km remaining from 209km

All together again.

Yesterday Adam Yates said he was "feeling good" but obvously things changed overnight.

More riders attacking on yet another cobbled climb.

No one being allowed to get away, though.

22km remaining from 209km

Leon Sanchez and Kirieyenka have built up a small gap now.

Kiryienka almost goes the wrong way and narrowly avolds crashing. 

The duo has 16 seconds on the field.

The peloton has gotten smaller again, maybe 40 or 50 riders left.

FdJ riding hard at the front of the field.

24km remaining from 209km

With 15 km to go, the gap is up to 24 seconds.

Up they all go again.

The two leaders have 33 seconds now.

The peloton shed more riders on that last climb, but as far as we know, all the favouriites are still in the main group.

@TeamSunweb Sun, 12th Mar 2017 14:44:07

12km remaining from 209km

Sanchez now alone in the lead.

Majka leads the field -- setting things up for Sagan?

Sanchez has less than 30 seconds now.

The gap is dropping ad the field is strung out in pursuit. Nibali has missed the cut and is now 39 seconds behind the leader, with the peloton in between at 19 seconds.

Nibali has Edvald Boasson Hagen and another rider for company.

Van Garderen attacks on a climb and is quickly by Sanchez. But again, the peloton is also practically there, too.

Van Garderen had a small mechanical problem which allowed Sanchez to jump back into the lead. The American joined him again though with 9 km left.

Dumoulin was moving up to the front of the field perhaps he is planning another attack.

7km remaining from 209km

There are only about 20 riders in the group now.

5km remaining from 209km

Twelve seconds for Sanchez and Van Garderen.

Quintana still has at least one helper with him, Castroviejo.

Majka has done his duty and now falls off the back of the peloton.

3km remaining from 209km

Looking bad for the two leaders, as the gap drops to 7 seconds with 3.5 km to go.

Sanchez carries on as Van Garderen is caught 

With 3.2 to go, Pino attacks, but most of the others go with him.

With 3 km to go, the next to go is Quintana!

He too is caught and we now have roughly a group of 7..

Pinot attacks, Thomas attacks, none are successful -- as yet.

Sagan tries to get to the lead group, 2 km to go.

Maybe 12 in this strung-out lead group now.

Last kilometer uphill on narrow cobble city roads.

Uran jumps into the lead with Sagan furiously behind him.

Pinot tries again as the road narrows.

Thomas leads the way with Pinot behind him. But Sagan jumps on teh right and outsprints them all for the win.

Pinot tried his best to catch the world champion but had no chance.

@8aldwin Sun, 12th Mar 2017 15:08:59

Quintana was in that front group and has defended his lead. We think he finished 8th.

Roglic of Lotto-Jumbo took third.

That is Sagan's second stage win in this year's Tirreno-Adriatico, as he also won stage 3.

In GC, Pinot moves up to second, with Dennis third, Roglic fourth and Dumoulin fifth..

Stage 5 results

1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 5:00:05

2 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ

3 Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNl-Jumbo

4 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky

5 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo

6 Rigoberto Urán (Col) Cannondale-Drapac

7 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb

8 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team

9 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing

10 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin

General classification after stage 5

1 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 21:34:51

2 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ 0:00:50

3 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:01:06

4 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:01:15

5 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:19

6 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:23

7 Rigoberto Urán (Col) Cannondale-Drapac 0:01:30

8 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:32

9 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:37

10 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:59

If you want to read again how it all went down, check out our full race report here. 

Thanks for reading along today and be sure to join us again for the next stages!