Vuelta a Espana: Ewan wins stage 5

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Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge) claimed his maiden Grand Tour stage win at the Vuelta a Espana on stage 5 from Rota to Alcalá de Guadáira. The young Australian was led out perfectly by his Orica-GreenEdge teammates before sweeping by John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) in the closing 50 metres. Peter Sagan (Tinkoff Saxo) started the sprint near the front but faded to third place.

Orica-GreenEdge controlled the peloton inside the final few kilometres with Mathew Hayman instrumental in running the leadout. After a technical section through several corners, Sagan was in second place with Daniele Bennati leading his prime sprinter.

However, Sagan was swamped by a volley of riders from Giant-Alpecin and Orica-GreenEdge with 250 metres to go. Degenkolb opened the sprint but Ewan came around the German to secure the stage win.

In the race for GC, Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) found himself on the wrong side of a late split, leaving Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) to secure the race lead by a single second from the Colombian.

"This is by far the happiest day in my career. To beat some of the best sprinters in the world, especially guys like Sagan and Degenkolb on an uphill finish, it really means a lot to me," Ewan said.

"It’s an honour to race with those guys and to beat them is just unreal for me."

"This was probably the last stage I could go for because I’m not planning on going through the whole Tour. There was a fair bit of pressure because I knew it was my last opportunity but that made me even more determined to do it."

How it unfolded

The day was marked by a three-man move that moved clear inside the first 20 kilometres of the stage. Tsgabu Grmay (Lampre-Merida) initiated the attack and spent several kilometres off the front before he was joined by Iljo Keisse (Etixx-QuickStep) and Grand Tour debutant Antoine Duchesne (Europcar) after 19 kilometres of racing.

Over the flatlands the trio built up a lead of over seven minutes, with their advantage peaking at 7:20 before Tinkoff-Saxo and Giant Alpecin began to collaborate on the front of the peloton.

With just under 70 kilometres to go, the gap has stopped coming down quite as quickly and the advantage of the three escapees stabilised at 5:05.

Cofidis, looking to secure a win for Frenchman Nacer Bouhanni, moved up to the front to help join the pace setting, and along with Giant and Tinkoff they reduced the break’s lead to a far more manageable two minutes.

With few stages designed for the sprinters in this race there was never much chance of the break succeeding, but tensions rose in the lead group when Grmay stopped working. Whether it was tiredness or team orders was unclear, but Keisse, a stage winner at this year’s Giro d’Italia, was far from impressed.

With 18 kilometres to go and all harmony lost, the Belgian took flight and moved clear of his previous companions. With 15 kilometres remaining the gap slipped to 1:27 and after another 5 kilometres the gap was down to less than 40 seconds.

Even Keisse couldn’t prolong the inevitable and he was duly caught inside the final 10 kilometres.

It was now time for the GC teams to position their overall candidates near the front, and along with the sprinters’ teams they jostled for position with Astana, Tinkoff, Team Sky and Katusha all in contention.

MTN-Qhubeka took control soon after with Bouhanni’s leadout train struggling for fluency and momentum in the middle of the pack. Having waited in the wings for most of the stage, Orica-GreenEdge moved up in numbers as the technical last few turns came into view. Sagan was always a threat but he was positioned too near the front as the peloton rounded the final corner. He was unable to match the raw speed of Degenkolb, who opened his sprint first, but it was Ewan who came out on top. Ewan got his first Grand Tour stage in his first Grand Tour, but for Chaves losing the race lead, Orica GreenEdge’s run of success continues.

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