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Vuelta a España 2011: Stage 5

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Welcome to Cyclingnews’ live coverage of stage 5 of the Vuelta a España, 187km from Sierra Nevada to Valdepeñas de Jaén.

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A high-octane first hour of racing saw 18 riders just about move clear of the peloton in a group that was continually fragmenting and reforming over rolling roads north of Granada.

The eight riders in the break were Slagter, Albasini, Taaramae, Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), Angel Madrazo (Movistar), Johannes Frohlinger (Skil-Shimano), Davide Malacarne (Quick Step) and Adrian Palomares (Andalucia Caja Granada).

After covering 45km in the opening hour of racing, the pace never quite died down, and the break struggled to build on its initial 1-minute lead.

Close to the 100km mark, as the break was approaching Jaen, Albasini decided to take a flyer by himself. The Swiss rider was clearly unhappy with the level of cooperation in the break and with the close attention the peloton was paying to the presence of Sagan and Taaramae, and he opted to try his luck alone.

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Katusha are making a serious contribution to the pursuit here. Today's finish is at the top of a sharp 1km climb, not altogether unlike the Mur de Huy, so it's not surprising that Rodriguez fancies his chances here.

Of course, Rodriguez was seen as the man to watch on the same finish last year, but he lost out to Igor Anton in a thrilling finale. On that occasion, Rodriguez did most of the pressing in pursuit of lone escapee Rigoberto Uran at the base of the climb, where the gradient reaches 23%. Anton bided his time, however, and zipped clear as the road flattened out in the final 400 metres to take a fine stage win ahead of Vincenzo Nibali.

Anton's Vuelta hopes suffered a significant blow yesterday on the road to Sierra Nevada, however, as he was distanced by the group of favourites. Speaking before the start this morning, Anton acknowledged that he is lacking the vim of twelve months ago. "Having lost one and half minute, it’s even very difficult to make the final podium of the Vuelta,” Anton said. “I’ll do it another year. I’m not as strong as last year. I have an incredible memory of this stage to Valdepeñas de Jaén. It was very nice. It gave me so much confidence in the fact that I can win this kind of uphill finish.”

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In the race for the red jersey, Syvlain Chavanel has a lead of 43 seconds over Dani Moreno (Katusha) and 49 second over Jakob Fuglsang. In his Cyclingnews Vuelta blog, Chavanel was hopeful of defending his lead on today's short, sharp climb to the finish.

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Dan Martin (Garmin-Cervelo) is among the riders who could shine on the steep slopes of the final climb to the finish. The Irishman was staying at altitude at Sierra Nevada last night, however, and he admitted that he found it difficult to sleep. “I didn’t sleep all night,” Martin explained. “I can’t stand sleeping at high altitude. I’ve watched a video of the finish, that’s how I know how it looks like. We’ll see if I have enough strength…”

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There will be some interesting developments at Katusha in the off-season. Former Gersolteiner manager

There will be some interesting developments at Katusha in the off-season. Former Gersolteiner boss Hans-Michael Holczer is set to join as team manager, while team president Andrei Tchmil is touted to be eyeing the presidency of the European Cycling Union. As was previously announced, Valerio Piva will arrive from HTC-Highroad as directeur sportif.

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Vincenzo Nibali is determined to take the weight of this Vuelta on his shoulders. He has set his Liquigas-Cannondale team to the front to keep the pace high on the climb.

At the back of the race, the rear of the peloton is being torn asunder into small groups.

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While one of the major favourites is unlikely to gain big time today, any contender who is feeling the pinch could be exposed on this climb. So far, Igor Anton appears to be still in this group, but the pace is rising.

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As was the case yesterday, Anton is sitting at the very back of the leading group. Even on a brief downhill section, he is unable to move closer to the front.

Dan Martin is also seated near the rear of the group, but he looks considerably more comfortable than Anton.

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Karpets is unconcerned by this move, and keeps tapping out his rhythm behind.

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Anton is losing contact with the rear of the peloton, although to his credit he is battling hard and should stay in touch over the summit.

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Nibali is sitting in third place in the peloton, and betraying few signs of suffering. Sylvain Chavanel remains in the ever-dwindling group.

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The irrepressible Karpets is back at the front of the peloton, where Dan Martin has also moved his way back up towards the front.

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Anton has managed to attach himself to the rear of the red jersey group on the descent, but he will surely struggle on the final climb.

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Moncoutie is tackling the 23% slopes and almost grinds to a halt as the bunch engulfs him.

Dani Moreno hits the front with Rodriguez on his wheel, and the Katusha duo have opened out a gap on the steepest section.

Rodriguez rips clear of Moreno and has opened out a sizeable gap as the road flattens out.

Joaquim Rodriguez takes the stage victory ahead of Wout Poels, while Dani Moreno crosses the line in third place.

That trio were a little clear of the main group of favourites, and it appears that Steven Kruijswijk came across the line in 4th.

Correction, it was Bauke Mollema who came home in fourth, ahead of Scarponi, Zubeldia, Fuglsang and Roche, who all lost 8 seconds to Rodriguez.

Nibali came across the line 11 seconds down in 11th, while Bradley Wiggins finished around 20 seconds down.

Overall, Sylvain Chavanel has - just - retained his red jersey. In spite of the time bonus Moreno picked up for 3rd place, he is still 9 seconds off Chavanel's overall lead. Rodriguez lies 3rd overall.

Dan Martin lost 29 seconds on the final kick to the line, and not surprisingly Igor Anton came home towards the back of the main group, almost a minute down.

Result:

Thanks for joining us for today's live coverage of the Vuelta. We're back with more tomorrow, as the race heads from Úbeda to Córdoba. In the meantime, stayed tuned to Cyclingnews for full results, reports, news and pictures from today's stage.

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