Tirreno-Adriatico: Adam Yates wins stage 5

Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) took his first win of the season in Filottrano on stage 5 of Tirreno-Adriatico. Seven seconds later, Team Sky's Michał Kwiatkowski finished third behind Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), with the Pole taking over the race lead.

Kwiatkowski's advantage over second-place on GC Damiano Caruso (BMC Racing) is three seconds, while Mikel Landa (Movistar) lies in third, 23 seconds down. With tomorrow's stage one for the sprinters, expect Tuesday's time trial in San Benedetto del Tronto to be decisive for the GC battle.

As for today's stage, Yates had struck out alone on the Muro di Filottrano 5km from the finish. He looked the strongest by some distance on the climb and despite the efforts of Bora-Hansgrohe, as well as brief attacks from Landa and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), he wasn't in danger of being caught.

Yates' solo victory is the second in two days for the family, with his twin brother Simon having won in Paris-Nice on Saturday before falling just short of overall victory earlier today.

How it unfolded

A tribute to Michele Scarponi, the Astana rider who was killed while out training last April, stage 5 was another hilly one - this time ending with a hilltop finish in Scarponi's home town of Filottrano.

Four classified climbs - all third category - dotted the stage before the finale. First up was Mon-telupone at 49.9km, then Ossimo at 117.8km, before two initial climbs of Filottrano at 142.7km and 158.8km. At the finish came another ride up the Muro di Filottrano (a 1.8km climb featuring gradients of up to 16 per cent) before a short descent and another ramp to the line. The day's intermediate sprints came at Morrovalle (58.5km) and Porto Recanati (84.9km).

Featuring in the break of the day were Dario Cataldo (Astana), Igor Boeve (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Kristijan Koren (Bahrain-Merida), Steve Morabito (Groupama-FDJ) and Iljo Keisse (Quick-Step Floors), with the group quickly building up a lead of six minutes in the opening 20km.

With no GC threats up front, and with the points and climbers jerseys in the fairly safe hands of Jacopo Mosca (Willier Triestina-Selle Italia) and Nicola Bagioli (Nippo-Vini Fantini), the competition for the climbs and sprints was less urgent than in previous days.

The break's advantage slowly eroded until the majority of the break was swallowed up less than 20km from the finish. Scarponi's ex-teammate Cataldo was the last man standing from the break, finally caught just over 10km from the finish line.

At the front of the peloton were Mitchelton-Scott, working for Yates, and Team Sky, working for Michał Kwiatkowski, who lay just one second back from overnight race leader Caruso. And as the peloton hit the climb, it was Yates who took it up at the front solo, pulling away on the steep slopes of the Muro.

Bora-Hansgrohe had taken to the front, working for world champion Peter Sagan. But Yates' advantage had stretched to 10 seconds as he hit the final kilometre and the final kick up. Forays off the front from Landa and Lutsenko couldn't reel Yates in either, and the Brit enjoyed his ride to the line and his first victory of the season.

The sprint for second was duly won by Sagan, edging out Kwiatkowski, who took over the race lead thanks to the bonus seconds on offer for finishing third. 

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