Stage five is the shortest in the race, only 10.3 kilometer. It contains one climb, from start to finish. The riders have to go up individually, so no helpers. Unfortunately, the timekeeping has malfunctioned, meaning we can't give live timing on the road. We only know when to riders leave Ollon and finish in Villars.
The victim of an unfortunate puncture yesterday, Henao tumbled down the GC. He sets the benchmark for those to follow at 30'28, six seconds faster than then-leader Ignatenko.
He can't enjoy the hotseat for long though. Duarte flies up the mountain, passing Gallopin and Bille who started ahead of him, and beats his fellow Colombian by twenty seconds.
Suaza turns the entire podium Colombian. He manages to beat his teammate by two seconds and takes the lead, 30'06 the time to beat now.
Bartl is the best non-Colombian at the moment, six seconds behind Henao in virtual fourth.
Another Colombian in Bernal, but he does not threaten his countrymen. His main concern is the white jersey. Nearest rival Schleck completed the course in 31'15, and Bernal does it in... 31'02, meaning he has secured the youth classification under the assumption nothing happens tomorrow.
He is not the fastest rider under 25 today. That honor goes to Rochas, who took 30'36 and is currently sixth in the standings.
Stancu came close to the win yesterday but fell just short. Today he has another good performance by breaking the Colombian whitewash, going to third at eight seconds. It also makes him virtual GC leader with 25 riders to go.
An overview of the riders left to start, and the virtual stage and GC top twelve amongst the finishers:
#
Rider
Time
#
Stage
Time
25
Parra Bustamente
+ 4'42
1
Suaza
30'06
24
Bernard
+ 4'41
2
Duarte
+ 2
23
Hacecky
s.t.
3
Stancu
+ 8
22
Scarponi
+ 4'22
4
Henao
+ 22
21
Raileanu
+ 4'17
5
Bartl
+ 28
20
Poljanski
+ 4'14
6
Ignatenko
+ 29
19
Uwizeyimana
+ 4'03
7
Rochas
+ 30
18
Shapira
+ 3'33
8
Destribois
+ 31
17
Pernsteiner
+ 3'21
9
Domagalski
+ 33
16
Diaz
s.t.
10
Bonnin
s.t.
15
Grmay
+ 3'17
11
Saggiorato
+ 37
14
Faiers
s.t.
12
Soler
+ 38
13
Lemus Davila
+ 3'08
#
GC
Time
12
Henao Montoya
+ 3'04
1
Stancu
15h01'46
11
Atapuma
+ 2'53
2
Paulus
+ 29
10
Eastman
+ 2'06
3
Bonnin
+ 46
9
Pomoshnikov
+ 1'51
4
Saggiorato
+ 1'02
8
Manfredi
+ 1'49
5
Battaglin
+ 1'14
7
Barbio
s.t.
6
Kebede
+ 1'33
6
Slagter
+ 1'00
7
Wohrer
+ 1'47
5
Bennett
+ 39
8
Bartl
+ 2'34
4
Guldhammer
+ 25
9
Pavlic
+ 2'45
3
Preidler
+ 20
10
Soler
+ 2'50
2
Latour
+ 12
11
Suaza
+ 2'51
1
Monsalve
14h25'38
12
Bernal
+ 2'57
Parra Bustamente could lose more than a minute to Stancu. While his 30'56 is not enough for a virtual top ten, it keeps the Romanian 30 seconds behind in the GC.
No Cyprus repeat for Bernard, he doesn't have the best of days and loses two places in the GC.
Hacecky is almost caught by Scarponi at the finish line. The Czech is a second faster than his teammate today, which is also the difference in the GC, but he also drops places to Parra Bustamente and Stancu.
Scarponi catching him was more a sign of his weakness. The San Marinese, while failing to make the virtual top ten, does take the virtual GC lead by 25 seconds.
Raileanu is the best Fablok rider so far, as he beats Scarponi by seven seconds to lead the GC by twelve...
...but Poljanski manages to get on another level. 30'27 is fourth out of the finishers and the provisional GC lead by twenty seconds.
Uwizeyimana places just outside the top ten with his time, but more importantly the difference to Poljanski is fifteen seconds. He led him in the GC by eleven, so the Rwandan drops a place...
..but also gains one as Shapira is 40 seconds slower on the stage, which is ten seconds too much. The Israeli loses two places most likely...
...depending on how Pernsteiner does. At three quarters up the climb, the Austrian is overtaken by a flying Diaz. The Argentinian finally dethrones Suaza by nine seconds and could make a nice jump.
Pernsteiner ends up losing out on Shapira in the GC by two seconds, so the Israeli only loses one place. For the Austrian it's a disastrous day with a net loss of three places, and is lucky he beats out Raileanu by one second.
Grmay stops the clock at 30 minutes and 50 seconds. It's obviously not enough to keep his teammate behind, but Nordstrom have a virtual one-two now...
...make that one-two-three as Faiers completes the course in 30'23, provisional fifth time. Diaz also passes him in the GC, but if I were the Nordstrom manager I'd take a picture and hang it above my bed.
Lemus Davila and Henao Montoya finishing almost simultaneously. For the Mexican it's not even a disastrous time, 30'34 is ninth when he crossed the line but got pushed down to tenth immediately. In terms of the GC he falls behind Diaz and Faiers.
Henao Montoya saw Diaz's time and thought, that is for amateurs. He finishes in 29'12, 45 seconds faster than the Argentinian! Needless to say he assumes the virtual GC lead.
Eleven to go, another overview of the virtual stage and GC top ten:
#
Stage
Time
#
GC
Time
1
Henao Montoya
29'12
1
Henao Montoya
14h57'55
2
Diaz
+ 45
2
Diaz
+ 1'02
3
Suaza
+ 54
3
Faiers
+ 1'24
4
Duarte
+ 56
4
Lemus Davila
+ 3'26
5
Stancu
+ 1'02
5
Grmay
+ 3'51
6
Faiers
+ 1'11
6
Poljanski
+ 4'25
7
Poljanski
s.t.
7
Uwizeyimana
+ 4'29
8
Henao
+ 1'16
8
Shapira
+ 4'39
9
Bartl
+ 1'22
9
Pernsteiner
+ 4'44
10
Lemus Davila
s.t.
10
Raileanu
+ 4'45
Eastman passes Atapuma in the final kilometer. The American is compensating for his weak stage three and beats Henao Montoya by eight seconds. 29'04, the final ten have to go for 29 minutes to beat him!
Atapuma was the eleventh-last starter but tenth-last finisher. The long breakaway effort yesterday took a lot of energy and as such his 30'34 is not optimal. He concedes GC positions to Eastman, Henao Montoya and Diaz (by three seconds), but could still be happy with thirteenth in this race.
Pomoshnikov goes to the stage podium, but concedes 49 seconds and his GC position to Eastman.
Yesterday's stage winner Manfredi might be expected to drop out of the top of the GC but does surprisingly well. + 1'07 to Eastman is seventh on the stage and not enough to keep him or Pomoshnikov behind, but he remains ahead of Henao Montoya and as such will end up in the GC top ten! If you told the manager that beforehand he would have declared you crazy.
Barbio is not looking that good, as he is almost caught by Slagter who himself is almost caught by Bennett! But first let's handle the former yellow jersey, who doesn't even make the virtual stage top 40 with his 31'01. As he had the same time as Manfredi and only a lead of two over Pomoshnikov in the GC, he loses positions to both, and since Eastman and Henao Montoya were also at most a minute away, he drops four places on the second-a-last day and falls outside the top ten to eleventh. Again, if you told the manager that before the race he'd have paid for your psychotherapist!
Slagter just holds off Bennett. He could lose 1'06 to Eastman but spends 22 seconds too long. Thirteenth in the GC and second on the stage as of now...
...but plus one on both as Bennett crosses the finish line. 29'15 is his time, which is eleven seconds behind Eastman and three behind Henao Montoya. His GC lead over the American is sufficient to put him in virtual yellow with four to go.
Guldhammer could concede fourteen seconds to the New Zealander. He ends up losing 61. The Dane has a not-so-good day, 30'16 is only just enough for the top ten, and it costs his a GC position to Bennett.
Preidler is eleven seconds slower than Guldhammer, 1'12 slower than Bennett and 1'23 slower than Eastman. He had 1'46 over Eastman in the GC, so he is safe compared to him, but nineteen to Bennett and five to Guldhammer means he loses two positions, and Guldhammer stays fourth. Bennett meanwhile has jumped onto the GC podium, again.
Latour feels the hot breath of the yellow jersey in his neck. He has to finish at most 27 seconds behind Bennett to keep his runner-up position. 30'17 is not enough for the stage top ten as it is more than a minute slower, but as he only finishes one second behind Guldhammer he remains on the podium.
Monsalve has the final say. 29'14 is not enough for the stage win, he finishes third by ten seconds. That means he knocks Bennett of the stage podium by one second, and as such his yellow jersey never got in danger.
Redemption for Ryan Eastman. The American wins the stage in 29'04 which partly undoes his loss from stage three. Henao Montoya also found the right form today by finishing second at eight seconds. Monsalve as said earlier takes third at ten seconds, with Bennett at eleven. Then follows a huge gap to Pomoshnikov in sixth at 49 seconds. The top ten is completed by Diaz (+ 53), Suaza (+ 1'02), Duarte (+ 1'04), Manfredi (+ 1'07) and Stancu (+ 1'10). GC-aces Guldhammer and Latour miss the top ten by two and three seconds respectively, taking eleventh and twelfth. Faiers thirteenth, Preidler only fourteenth in the same time as Poljanski.
Yonathan Monsalve has one hand on the winners trophy, only one flat stage to go. Bennett jumps from fifth to second at + 40, with Latour losing a place at 1'15. Guldhammer status quo in fourth at 1'27, six seconds ahead of Preidler who went from third to fifth. Eastman goes from tenth to sixth (+ 1'56), pushing Slagter down a position (+ 2'18). Pomoshnikov gains a position to eighth, with Manfredi hangning on to his top ten which is completed by Henao Montoya. Barbio drops four places to eleventh, with Diaz, Atapuma, Faiers and Lemus Davila completing the top fifteenth.
Yonathan Monsalve is also leader in the points classification which also looks impossible to beat in the final stage. Romain Hardy is set for the mountains classification unless Dall'Oste collects all points tomorrow. Egan Bernal is extended his lead for the young riders classification to all but one while Bakkafrost extends its lead in the teams classification.
