Malacarne nets Quick Step's fifth season win

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Davide Malacarne (Quick Step) won the fifth stage of the Volta a Catalunya after being away virtually the whole race. First as part of a four-man group, he escaped again with 20 km to go and soloed his way to victory.

“I’m on top of the world, I’m speechless. There are so many things I’d like to say but I can’t find the right words," Malacarne said after the finish. "This is a success I dedicate to myself, my family and the team. These last few months we’ve been working hard and now the results are paying off.

"I’ve been thinking about this stage for three days. We had talked about it in the team and we were convinced that the break could make it to the finish line. I was very concentrated and when I got the chance I tried not to let it pass me by."

It was the first career victory for the second-year pro. "Last year I came so close to winning on a few occasions. I didn’t give up and I always worked hard, keeping in mind that sooner or later this day would come. Now my morale is high. For me this was the first important event of the year and this result shows that we’ve worked well. I hope this win brings good luck to my teammates who are competing in the northern campaign as well.”

Malacarne was the last survivor of the day's four-man break. The peloton caught the other three shortly before the finish line, and Andreas Klöden (RadioShack) and Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d'Epargne) took second and third. Joaquin Rodriguez of Katusha easily defended his overall lead.

Five ranked mountains were on the agenda, as the riders set out on a beautiful warm day. Four riders took advantage of the good weather to take off early. Davide Malacarne (Quick Step) and Javier Ramirez (Andalucia-CajaSur) took off only two km into the stage, and they were soon joined by Andres Sergio de Lis (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Gustavo Cesar Veloso (Xacobeo-Galicia).

The four quickly built up a significant lead, hitting a high of 10 minutes by km 97. The peloton was content to let them go, as Malacarne, the highest ranked of the bunch, was 29:02 behind overall leader Joaquim Rodriguez.

The lead started dropping after the quartet hit the top of the day's second climb, the Al de Porrera, and Katusha moved to head the chase in protection of Rodriguez' lead. Liquigas helped with the chase work, and the increased speed was enough to whittle the peloton down to some 50 riders.

Malacarne attacked out of the lead group with a little more than 20 km to go. He pulled away as the peloton came closer and closer to the other three, finally catching them.

The Quick Step Italian stayed away until the end. Sanchez and Klöden came out of the pack near the end. Klöden finished 36 seconds behind Malacarne, with Sanchez leading the decimated pack across the finish line one second later.