The 5th stage of the Giro is by far the hardest so far. A downhill finish in Montecatini Terme is preceded by 6 tough climbs, of which 5 will count towards the King of the Mountains competition. Case di Monte and Montecatini Alto being the two final climbs that could cause the first significant gaps of the race - although of course, Yuri Trofimov and Simon Spilak have both already benefited from a time gap gain yesterday. Trofimov looked ominous in winning, and many of his rivals will be releived that he just failed to grab the race lead - which could have given him an extra boost today.
Diego Ulissi and Dimitri Claeys both did fairly well today too, and it will be interesting to see if that can be repeated, or if the stage requires a bit more of climbing ability to succeed. Riccardo Ricco will be seething that he failed to gain time yesterday, and all the more determined to do so today. Hill stages are the prime opportunity to gain on Angel Madrazo.
With climbing from the start on the first second category climb - Colle la Posta, it will be interesting to see how that affects the constant attacking we have become accustomed to. First up are the following 8 riders:
Thomas Faiers Elia Favilli Mauro Facci Johann Tschopp Taylor Tolleson John Degenkolb Lars Croket Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan
When the attacks end, 5 of those have managed to work a small gap.
Elia Favilli Johann Tschopp Mauro Facci Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan John Degenkolb
Five others tried to bridge across, but the pace of the peloton did not allow them to do so.
Matea Kvasina Aleksandr Dyachenko Michal Kwiatkowski Teodoro Costagli Mickaël Delage
And indeed, they don't allow the first 5 to keep up their lead either, and the race comes back together.
Costagli and Kvasina then led the next move, but with the other 5 being new attackers, they found themselves left behind.
Tom Stubbe Fabio Duarte Brian Vandborg Christophe Riblon Enrico Franzoi
The stand out name here is of course Duarte, who seriously hindered his GC hopes on yesterday's stage. A chance for redemption today then as he exerts pressure up the climb?
Riblon follows him and they ride up to the top of the climb - the Frenchman actually managing to beat Duarte to the top.
Efimkin, Wallays and Caruso went on the attack for the remaining points. Wallays having picked up 2 points for his 3rd place finish on San Luca yesterday.
Colle la Posta
Total
1
Christophe Riblon
10
10
2
Fabio Duarte
8
8
3
Aleksandr Efimkin
6
6
4
Jelle Wallays
4
6
5
Damiano Caruso
2
2
The 3 new attackers then bridge across to make it a breakaway of 5 for today.
Caruso and Efimkin are too of the strongest riders in the race on the hills, while 3rd overall and leading young rider Wallays has already shown himself to be in top form so far this race.
Duarte must have hoped to build a strong King of the Mountains total by entering the breakaway todat, but the presence of these 3 riders means the pace is much higher than he would like. He will never be a King of the Hills and is dropped as soon as the hostilities begin for points on the second Cat 2 climb of the day.
The King of the Mountains competition is looking very close after Caruso wins the climb.
Colle di Giogo
Total
1
Damiano Caruso
10
12
2
Aleksandr Efimkin
8
14
3
Jelle Wallays
6
12
4
Christophe Riblon
4
14
5
Fabio Duarte
2
10
The descent that follows is not great for the Heineken squad as Taylor Tolleson crashed, and Michael Matthews punctured.
Duarte is unable to get back to the breakaway, and while Riblon can't match the acceleration of the other 3 near the top of climbs, he can at least regain contact afterwards.
Efimkin takes victory on the Cat 3 Colle Vetta le Croci to take an outright lead in the competition.
Colle Vetta le Croci
Total
1
Aleksandr Efimkin
6
20
2
Damiano Caruso
4
16
3
Jelle Wallays
2
14
4
Christophe Riblon
14
Wallays then went on to win the intermediate sprint. 6 seconds gained there puts him to within 7 second of race leader Bennati.
Meanwhile the peloton has been reduced to 99. Some of the weaker climbers were dropped after the early Cat 2s, but the latest group down is similar to the one seen on Stage 4 - with a large presence of Wiggle and Venchi riders - including Duarte who had already been caught by the peloton not too long ago. The good news for the two teams though is that Rabottini, Di Maggio and Brambilla are putting in a bit more effort today, and have kept in the peloton.
The uncategorised climb has been and gone, with Riblon dropped.
The following 26km are left, and the 3 remaining leaders hold a 2'50 advantage:
Considering their strength on the climbs, the stage win is very real possibility here.
McCarthy, López Garcia, Shushemoin, Augustyn and Grillo are amongst those relaying in the peloton, trying to chase them down.
Onto the Case di Monte, the penultimate climb, and also the 20km to go mark. Diego Ulissi attacks!
Further up, Efimkin takes the summit first after Caruso attacked first but couldnt hold his pace all the way up.
Case di Monte
Total
1
Aleksandr Efimkin
6
26
2
Damiano Caruso
4
20
3
Jelle Wallays
2
14
With a maximum of 6 points remaining, Efimkin looks set to be wearing the King of the Mountains jersey tomorrow.
Ulissi was not the only attacker from the peloton however, Yuri Trofimov has followed and blasted past the Italian!
Dimitri Claeys also attacks, while Vincenzo Nibali makes move on the descent, as the peloton is really being stretched and torn apart now.
Infact, under the pace of Aker-MOT, just 23 remain.
Race leader Bennati still clinging on, but some notable GC riders have been caught out. Fothen, Caruso, Velits, Kiserlovski, Henao Montoya, and Eastman amongst them.
With 14km to go for the leaders, the gaps stand as follows:
+ 1'50
+ 2'04
+ 2'26
+ 2'44
+ 3'16
Efimkin
Trofimov
Ulissi
Claeys
Bennati
Fothen
Caruso
Nibali
Madrazo
Henao Montoya
Wallays
Sella
Velits
Spilak
Kiserlovski
Ricco
Eastman
Phinney
…
Sicard
Kohl
…
And now Efimkin goes on the attack!
It doesnt work, as the race enters the final 10km. Trofimov is hunting them down, with Ulissi also going strong in pursuit. The latter going for stage ambitions despite his team leader being dropped behind!
The Montecatini Alto is the final climb, and again Efimkin attacks. This time so does Wallays.
Caruso cruises back up to them.
And the Wiggle rider then attacks - but he needs to, because Trofimov is annhilating the gap that the breakaway had, and they can sense their stage win hopes falling to pieces.
Wikipedia, including Phinney, lead the chasing peloton, trying to limit the gains of the flying Russian infront of them. Claeys and Nibali are still in the middle, as is Ulissi.
Caruso takes first over the top, but Trofimov has used the climb to it's full and joins the group at the summit, while 3rd overall Wallays has now been dropped.
Montecatini Alto
Total
1
Damiano Caruso
6
26
2
Aleksandr Efimkin
4
30
3
Yuri Trofimov
2
8
As the peloton chase them over, Claeys and Nibali are caught.
Meanwhile Kiserlovski, Velits and Fothen lead the efforts of their chasing group. In here now is Bennati, who seems to have finally cracked. He had better enjoy the Maglia Rosa because it is the last he will have of it this year.
Trofimov now takes responsibility to push the pace up front, as the other two now look to sit on as their best hope of a stage win. Ulissi still giving it all on his solo chase. If the team radio is calling him back to Fothen, he certainly isnt listening - so had better deliver a good stage result now!
The peloton are closing in though, reducing Trofimov's hopes of a gap. They've launched the sprint already as the Russian tries to hold off as long as he can.
Whichever way this stage goes, it is looking good for Russia with Efimkin in 2nd wheel. Trofimov now launches his sprint and is looking good now. Caruso is either too tired, or caught out by the start of this sprint.
Spilak, Sicard and Ricco lead the sprint behind, and Ulissi is quickly caught.
The stage win is only going one way though, as Yuri Trofimov makes it two in a row! Well deserved after such a strong solo ride today. The Maglia Rosa is his.
Romain Sicard wins the sprint for 2nd as he starts to make his name known in Grand Tour racing, while Simon Spilak just sneaks through for 3rd. All day breakaway stars Aleksandr Efimkin and Damiano Caruso must settle for 4th and 5th. The time gap held by Trofimov was wiped out in the sprint, so all he gains are the time bonuses.
Completing the Top 10 are Ricco, Phinney, Madrazo, Ulissi and López Garcia. Wallays managed to hold on to this group to move up to 2nd overall and retain his best Young rider jersey.
Now we look for the gap to the chasing group. Rast and Navarro were dropped from the front group and their time will be the one that is awarded for the chasers, as ensured by the sprint of Betancourt, for his team leader. 1'06 has been lost.
Bennati finished further down at 2'35. He has put a lot of effort into defending his jersey, but tomorrow his main sprinting job will be making a return - as he swaps Pink for Red as leader of the Points classification.
After Stage 4 only 30 riders were within a minute of each other as the head of the race, now that is just 4, with only 12 within 2 minutes. Fothen, Kiserlovski and Henao Montoya are all now 3'45 behind.
1
Yuri Trofimov
Koenigsegg
4h08'31
2
Romain Sicard
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
3
Simon Spilak
Aker - MOT
s.t.
4
Aleksandr Efimkin
Cisco Cycling Team
s.t.
5
Damiano Caruso
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
6
Riccardo Ricco
Team Bacardi
s.t.
7
Taylor Phinney
Wikipedia
s.t.
8
Angel Madrazo
Santander
s.t.
9
Diego Ulissi
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
10
David López Garcia
Santander
s.t.
11
Kristjan Koren
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
Thomas Faiers
Elia Favilli
Johann Tschopp
Taylor Tolleson
John Degenkolb
Lars Croket
Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan
Matea Kvasina
Aleksandr Dyachenko
Michal Kwiatkowski
Mickaël Delage
Fabio Duarte
Brian Vandborg
John-Lee Augustyn
David López Garcia
Artem Topchanyuk
Travis Meyer
Bernhard Kohl
Simon Spilak
