Tirreno – Adriatico
Stage 4 Indicatore (Arezzo) - Cittareale

We are going to hit to mountains today and we are going to hit them hard, a change of team leaders is imminent. From Hanzen to Van Garderen and From Boasson Hagen to Froome. We leave the sprinting lands behind us and move upwards.



We have some good climbers in the breakaway today, Adam Yates (Garmin), Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) and Eros Capecchi (Androni have found each other in the break of the day. They quickly gained 3 minutes, which was all they would get from BMC



We’ve started the first climb of the day, the Forca di Cerro. Not much happened as the riders are probably preparing for the next or the final climb of today. Yates won the intermediate sprint at the mountain top.



Unlike the Forca di Cerro, the Forca Capistrello did saw some activity, they left the gap grow to 4’03� but not only that: Cunego (LAM), Chaves (COL) and Vanendert (LTB) are trying to get away from the peloton that is led by Movistar, Sky and Astana. Hanzen still has on too.



When the word of the Cunego group getting closer caught Yates and Capecchi, they went on the attack trying to get as much distance as possible between them. Hoogerland wasn’t able to and was dropped from the break of the day and caught later by the peloton.



We start end climb to Cittareale and the peloton caught drop Cunego, which immediately turned into an attack from the GC favorites. Quintana opens the dance, followed by Nibali, Froome, Van Garderen, Porte and Contador.


higher up the road we see Yates getting clear from Capecchi

Froome has taken over the lead from Quintana. Nibali and him have trouble following the Brit, Van Garderen has been held up by Group Cunego a bit. Contador and Porte have yet to get past Group Cunego.



Capecchi is caught by group Nibali, while Van Garderen is dragging Vanendert with him up to the group Nibali. Porte and Contador have 30 meters to close to Vanendert while Cunego and Chaves look empty.


more reactions from the peloton: Kangert (GIS), Kelderman (BEL), Talansky (GRS) and Spilak (KAT)

Van Garderen has joined group Nibali replacing Capecchi who is now in group Porte with Contador and Vanendert. Kangert and Spilak are the next two riders while Cunego and Chaves are going to be picked up by Talansky and Kelderman next.


more reactions from the peloton: De Gendt (OPQ), Meyer (OGE) and Costa (MOV)

Froome is apparently not found of the BMC jersey as he attacks immediately after Van Garderen joined the group. Yates is also now in the picture with just 2 km to go.



not far to go now and Yates is so close to an stage win but Nibali, Froome, Quintana and Van Garderen are on his wheel.



Heartbreaking, Yates is passed by Nibali on one side and Froome on the other side.



It is Froome that wins in Cittareale just beating Nibali. Van Garderen takes the final spot on the podium. Quintana and Yates take places 4 and 5.



Spilak beats Kangert for 6th place while Porte and Contador have to settle with 8th and 9th. Vanendert holds on 10th place and the final spot in the points.



Nibali now leads the GC with Van Garderen and Froome being locked at the same time. Quintana is 9 seconds back while Yates is 11 seconds back. The first gap is to Spilak and Kangert at 1’17�. Porte at 1’30� and Contador at 1’34� must be disappointing for their managers. Costa and Kelderman are 3 seconds apart at 2’49� and 2’52�

Rank		Name	Team	Time
1		Chris Froome	Sky Procycling	6h06'00
2		Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
3		Tejay Van Garderen	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
4		Nairo Quintana	Movistar Team	s.t.
5		Adam Yates	Garmin - Sharp	s.t.
6		Simon Spilak	Katusha Team	+ 1'11
7		Tanel Kangert	Team Giant - Shimano	s.t.
8		Richie Porte	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	+ 1'25
9		Alberto Contador	Team Tinkoff - Saxo	s.t.
10		Jelle Vanendert	Lotto Belisol	+ 2'06

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	14h34'42
2	Tejay Van Garderen	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
3	Chris Froome	Sky Procycling	s.t.
4	Nairo Quintana	Movistar Team	+ 9
5	Adam Yates	Garmin - Sharp	+ 11
6	Simon Spilak	Katusha Team	+ 1'17
7	Tanel Kangert	Team Giant - Shimano	s.t.
8	Richie Porte	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	+ 1'30
9	Alberto Contador	Team Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 1'34
10	Rui Costa	Movistar Team	+ 2'49

Rank	Name	Team	General
1	Adrien Hanzen	BMC Racing Team	20
2	Chris Froome	Sky Procycling	19
3	Nairo Quintana	Movistar Team	13
4	Mario Guido	Colombia	12
5	Adam Yates	Garmin - Sharp	11

Rank	Name	Team	General
1	Moreno Moser	Cannondale Pro Cycling	11
2	Adam Yates	Garmin - Sharp	10
3	Pello Bilbao	Euskaltel - Euskadi	8
4	Juan Pablo Valencia	Colombia	7
5	Eros Capecchi	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	6

Rank	Name	Team	General Time
1	Nairo Quintana	Movistar Team	14h34'51 (1)
2	Adam Yates	Garmin - Sharp	+ 2 (2)
3	Wilco Kelderman	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 2'43 (3)
4	Esteban Chaves	Colombia	+ 7'16 (14)
5	Cristiano De las Campos	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 3'46 (6)

Rank	Team	General Time
1	Movistar Team	43h07'52 (1)
2	Garmin - Sharp	+ 44 (2)
3	Sky Procycling	+ 1'08 (3)
4	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	+ 1'23 (4)
5	BMC Racing Team	+ 1'56 (5)

Tirreno – Adriatico – Stage 5
Amatrice - Guardiagrele

Another mountainous stage with an end climb but the descent of the first climb of today, the Passo Lanciano, might be the real decider for today. A breakaway victory is also in the realm of possibilities.



Bongiorno (CAN) and Brambilla (TFR) are the Italian hope in the 5 man breakaway today. Together with Castroviejo (EUS), Plaza (MOV) and Westra (GIS) they are going to try to take a victory away from the climbing elite.



We have a mass crash in the peloton and some notable names are involved, Andy Schleck (TFR) and Jurgen van den Broeck (LTB) while have to burn some energy to get back to the front of the peloton. Engery they will probably miss at the end. Kessiakof (AST), Koren (TTS), Vorobyev (KAT), van Winden (OPQ) and Verhelst (EUR) were also on the group.


the riders try to get back after crashing

At the foot of the Passo Lanciano, Nibali and Costa went together after De Gendt who broke away seconds earlier.



The duo didn’t get far initially but as soon as the peloton catches the duo they go again. This time Quintana and Froome follow. BMC decides to use a mountain train (Cataldo <- Van Garderen <- Owniak) to catch the rest.



Kangert is the next to attack; the pace set by BMC apparently isn’t high enough



Apperantly the pace from BMC is high enough to break clear from the peloton, only Evans (OGE) and Kelderman (BEL) are able to follow from the peloton. Pozzovivo and Porte try to get clear from the peloton by attacking but without any luck.



Nibali, de Gendt, Froome and Quintana have joined up with the early breakaway, Costa and Kangert are 48� seconds behind. Cataldo has dropped of the BMC train and now Kelderman and Evans have trouble keeping up with Van Garderen and Owniak, 1’39� behind. Porte and Contador lead the 28 man peloton



Westra and Plaza drop from the leaders group to assist Kangert and Costa in joining up with the leaders group. Kangert goes straight past Westra while Costa is going to work with Plaza.


Grp. Nibali <30�> Kangert <9�> Grp. Costa <37�> Van Garderen <24�> Grp. Kelderman <13�> Grp. Evans <23�> 27 man peloton

Froome and Quintana have split from the others and are going to try to distance Nibali, who was badly positioned. Nibali did charge to the front of his group, perhaps to get clear himself.


Grp. Froome <26�> Grp. Nibali <11�> Kangert <23�> Grp. Costa <24�> van Garderen <34�> Grp. Kelderman <18�> Grp. Evans <12�> 28 man peloton

Quintana is the first at the top, Froome is right on his wheel. 64 seconds later, the Nibali group (Kangert, Bongiorno, De Gendt and Brambilla) cross the line. Castroviejo is between the Nibali and Van Garderen group (with Costa and Plaza), Kelderman and Westra are riding just in front of the Porte group (Contador/Owniak/Caruso/La Bestia/Evans). The peloton is now only 13 man strong and the biggest names are Talansky, Spilak, Hintermuller, Chaves, Van den Broeck, Pozzovivo and Horner.



Robert Gesink (BEL) is forced to retire the stage after coming into contact with Rogers who was already on the ground after a solo crash, Bad news for the Dutch champion.



The downhill proved to not be as much of a deciding factor as initially thought so with 2,5 km to go this is how it currently looks: Froome and Quintana have 1’03� minute advantage to Nibali, de Gendt, Kangert, Brambilla and Bongiorno. 1’50� behind that group are Van Garderen, Costa and Plaza. They are joined by Kelderman. Contador is still 47 seconds in pursuit to Van Garderen. Caruso and Castroviejo are 32 seconds behind Contador. Yates, Spilak and Evans are 1 minute behind them.


1 kilometer to go for Froome and Quintana, who is the first to go on the dash for the finish.



Froome is first to go but Quintana goes past him quickly.


Quintana gets a gap



Quintana holds the gap and takes the victory today.



Nibali gets on the stage podium but loses the overall lead. De Gendt and Kangert sprint to 4th and 5th place while Bongiorno and Brambilla cruise the final 300 meters to 6th and 7th.



Costa, Van Garderen and Kelderman take the final places in the top 10.



Quintana now leads the overall with a 7 second advantage over Froome. Nibali drops to third place 1’36� down. Van Garderen drops down to 5th 3’53� down on Quintana. Yates drops to 10th place overall 7’38� down. Kangert is 4th at 2’57�. De Gendt at 4’42�, Contador at 6’02�, Costa at 6’32� and Kelderman at 6’45� are the rest in the top 10 overall.

Rank		Name	Team	Time
1		Nairo Quintana	Movistar Team	4h53'04
2		Chris Froome	Sky Procycling	+ 12
3		Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	+ 1'39
4		Thomas De Gendt	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	s.t.
5		Tanel Kangert	Team Giant - Shimano	s.t.
6		Francesco Bongiorno	Cannondale Pro Cycling	+ 2'19
7		Gianluca Brambilla	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
8		Rui Costa	Movistar Team	+ 3'42
9		Tejay Van Garderen	BMC Racing Team	+ 3'52
10		Wilco Kelderman	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Nairo Quintana	Movistar Team	19h27'45
2	Chris Froome	Sky Procycling	+ 7
3	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	+ 1'36
4	Tanel Kangert	Team Giant - Shimano	+ 2'57
5	Tejay Van Garderen	BMC Racing Team	+ 3'53

Rank	Name	Team	General
1	Chris Froome	Sky Procycling	29
2	Nairo Quintana	Movistar Team	25
3	Adrien Hanzen	BMC Racing Team	20
4	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	18
5	Thomas De Gendt	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	17

Rank	Name	Team	General
1	Chris Froome	Sky Procycling	11
2	Nairo Quintana	Movistar Team	11
3	Moreno Moser	Cannondale Pro Cycling	11
4	Adam Yates	Garmin - Sharp	10
5	Pello Bilbao	Euskaltel - Euskadi	8

Rank	Name	Team	General Time
1	Nairo Quintana	Movistar Team	19h27'45 (1)
2	Francesco Bongiorno	Cannondale Pro Cycling	+ 11'52 (4)
3	Wilco Kelderman	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 6'45 (2)
4	Adam Yates	Garmin - Sharp	+ 7'38 (3)

Rank	Team	General Time
1	Movistar Team	57h55'13 (1)
2	Sky Procycling	+ 12'18 (2)
4	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	+ 13'21 (3)
7	BMC Racing Team	+ 16'07 (4)
8	Team Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 16'54 (5)