Hello and welcome again to Austria, where stage number 5 awaits us today! The high mountains are over, but we're still in hilly terrain. It's the big highlight for the puncheurs today - and probably the final occasion to gain some time on the strong time trialists, before they'll strike back on the final day!
But let's first talk about today. And today's stage starts where yesterday's ended - in St. Johann im Pongau. Not in the Alpendorf, but down in the town, so we can start going uphill right away! The first climb leads up to Eben im Pongau - a pretty ironic name, as Eben also means "flat" - where we'll not have a KoM sprint, though, but a normal sprint. The line will be crossed after 12.7km - an ideal terrain for breakaways to form, that's for sure!
After this warm-up climb follows the easiest part of this longest stage of the race, with mostly slightly descending roads until the third intermediate sprint in Hall bei Admont, after 110 kilometers. The second sprint is on this stretch, too, only 20km after the first one, in Mandling.
Now, the three intermediate sprints are over - but on the final 100km, three KoM sprints await the riders. First is the ascent to the Buchauer Sattel, today's sole 3rd category climb, with the hilltop after 122 kilometers. An uncategorized climb to Erb follows, before we get a 4th category KoM sprint to Radstatthöhle, after 150km.
After the final categorized climb of the day (no, there are no KoM points at the finish line) to Lassing, about 45 kilometers will be left. With most of them leading downhill - although just slightly once the actual descent done - we can expect a very fast finale - and hopefully some well recovered riders ready to tackle the final uphill!
And this one will start in Böhlerwerk, and lead the riders up to Sonntagberg - Sunday Mountain, literally translated. The most important monument is the Basilica, visible from far away due to its location on top of the hill, and an important pilgrimage center. But maybe today's warriors will be more interested in the military museum?
Whatever they like to do in their spare time, first they'll have to fight - and we do expect a fight of the best puncheurs for today's stage win! But the final hill is actually pretty long - and so we had the best climber winning this stage instead last year. Yeah, we're speaking of current GC leader Pluchkin. We don't have a top puncheur participating, so obviously the climbers are seen as today's top favorites by the bookies - however, the climbers with at least some decent punch. Home rider Preidler tops their list, ahead of the current GC Top 2, Wellens and Pluchkin. Guldhammer, Carthy and Areruya may have their chances as well, just like Latour, Martin, Denifl and Uran.
Let's see how that one turns out! There's enough of a flat section ahead of the final climb to reel in the breakaway in time - but will any team be willing to do so? Let's find out!
This image is pretty symbolic, as we're really leaving the big mountains behind now. And we can also see Preidler in the first row, alongside all the special jersey wearers - it seems as if he's striving for redemption today!
Although the weather is beautiful once again, it still isn't optimal, as the riders are going to face headwinds of almost 30km/h during most of today's stage! And on the flat-ish section leading to the final ascent, we'll have crosswinds - hopefully everyone will be on their guards!
But now, let's get the stage started - and Fernandez makes it clear right from the line that he doesn't want to give away his jersey! With 16 points at stake today, there are still 7 riders who could at least tie his 34 points - Roson, the first attacker, is none of them, though.
Hughes is next to leave behind the pack on this initial hill up to Eben. No danger in terms of KoM, either.
The Canadian soon catches up with the two leading Spaniards, making it just a trio up front. However, Walls and Gall are setting a high pace back in the peloton, meaning GCN are rather unhappy with the group - probably mainly because Pantano Gomez currently is 3rd in the KoM standings and hasn't made the jump up front.
However, the bunch eventually slows down, and by the time we pass the first intermediate sprint, the gap is over three minutes. Hughes takes full points here.
Roson moves up to 9th with these points - any of the escapees could actually take over the points jersey with the remaining intermediate sprints and the stage win!
And when we're talking about stage win, let's take a look at who would be the favorite. Roson should be named on top, as he's the best puncheur, the strongest climber and has the strongest acceleration of the group. Fernandez and Hughes are both decent on the hills as well, though, with the latter having the best resistance, and the former the best stamina - which might come into play on such a long stage!
But first, they'll have to make it - against two enemies: the pack and the headwind...
When speaking of the pack, here they are, 3'16" later. Goldstein is leading them, with Drucker, Ostergaard, Vaquera, Garcia Cortina, Ahmad Zamri, Maksimov, Schomber, Geniez and Golovash taking turns as well - it's 10 vs 3, not a very fair game...
Second intermediate sprint, still nobody particularly interested in the points - not even Roson, who could have moved quite far up had he won all of those three sprints... Instead, Fernandez leads them over the line.
Roson still gains another spot, overtaking Wellens. He's 8th in the virtual points standings now.
The peloton trails by 4'34" in Mandling.
Except for a puncture by Dekker (he made it back easily), not much happens on the next 75 kilometers. Fernandez wins the final intermediate sprint of the day in Hall bei Admont, before the interesting part of the stage - the last 100 kilometers - starts.
Roson now matches Denifl's score for 4th place, while Fernandez has entered the Top 10 of the virtual points standings as well.
The peloton's deficit maxed around 5 minutes and is now down to 3'22" as they cross this line. As the first KoM sprint will take place in less than 5 kilometers, it's less and less likely that someone will still be able to steal the jersey from Fernandez.
7% average slopes on just 3 kilometers isn't that hard, so it's almost impossible - barring a mechanical problem - that the pack catches the escapees before the top of this hill.
Fernandez has really brought himself into a great position by getting into this breakaway, as none of his companions can overtake him - and the group will still take all the points, leaving none for the peloton. Let's see if he still goes for the win on top.
Of course he does, and he does indeed win! Roson just follows his wheel, while Hughes doesn't care at all and has a 20" gap to close on the descent.
With just a maximum of 10 points on offer at the remaining KoM sprints, only Scheit could still overtake Fernandez now - but they'd first need to catch the breakaway! But the gap hasn't decreased on this climb, on the contrary. It's up to 3'30" again. 93km to go!
With less than 2 kilometers in length and just over 5% of average slopes, the ascent to Radstatthöhle won't be a real challenge for the leaders, either. They start the climb with a 3 minutes advantage - the KoM jersey will be definitely secured for Fernandez in a few minutes!
And he does so in style, by winning another KoM sprint! Admittedly, his two companions both didn't care this time, but it's still a strong showing for the second day in a row!
Barring any disaster, Fernandez has definitely won the KoM jersey now! Congratulations!
While the have been losing time on most of the climb, the peloton has finally woken up on the final meters, with Tatarinov now seriously chasing! Their deficit is slightly below 3 minutes, and we still have more than 60 kilometers to cover!
But on this headwind section leading to the final categorized hill of the race, they have lost about half their advantage, with the pack now moving clearly faster! They're even so fast that they might make the catch before the KoM sprint!
This is what awaits them in a few kilometers. It's another one of those short and not very steep hills - but the middle part still may hurt a bit after more than 150 kilometers already done!
In the peloton, some riders were actually chasing so hard that a group of 10 breaks free - including Pantano Gomez, who may at least want to get the 2nd place in the KoM standings!
And indeed, we see a GCN jersey on the attack - but it isn't Pantano Gomez! Instead, Williams probably sees a chance of getting the stage win today!
Fernandez is completely unimpressed by what happens behind him, as he makes it 3/3 today, winning the final KoM sprint of the race. Williams' attack came too late to score some points - he crosses the line 20" behind the head of the race.
While Fernandez' win was clear already before, Roson now matches Wellens' score for 6th place in the final KoM standings.
After Williams's attack, the remaining 9 riders were caught by the peloton, and almost all riders make it over this hill inside the pack, 1'32" behind the leaders. Just Verona and Robert have been distanced by more than 3 minutes already and will have to do the rest of the stage on their own.
Soon after having caught up with the leading trio, Williams tries to leave them behind - as the pack has already gotten as close as one minute!
However, neither his nor Fernandez' attacks were successful.
And under the 20km banner, the catch is almost made. Zabel and Ostergaard are closing the final meters of the gap, meaning that the fight for the stage win will at the same time be the fight for the GC!
We're now on that crosswind section leading to the final ascent, and some more riders are losing contact. Vinhas is probably the most interesting name back here besides Havik and Ciolek, but definitely none of the top contenders.
However, with 10 kilometers to go, we see a few riders who are really in danger of losing their good GC position, as they're close to the back - and should really move up fast if they want to tackle the final ascent in a good position!
Especially Abal, who is in 2nd last position of the pack, should really hurry up now, but Faiers, Diaz, Pantano Gomez, Potocki and Min definitely aren't in a great position, either!
Just 5 kilometers remaining on today's stage - and less than one kilometer to the start of the ascent to Sonntagberg! Velasco and Thill are setting a really fast pace, making it almost impossible for those named before to move up!
We can see race leader Pluchkin and strong puncheur Moazemi in the first positions behind the pacemakers, with Denifl, Intxausti, Cattaneo, Uran, Eastman, Latour, Nerz in the next two rows. Wellens and Areruya are slightly further down, along with Penasa, Guldhammer, Konig or Preidler. Carthy's situation is looking even worse, though!
And all of those riders listed at the 10km mark are still way further down the road - they really have to hope for no splits to occur!
And here's the profile of that final ascent! Just ignore the first kilometer - the climb really starts after a right turn, and from there we'll have slightly more than 3km left, with above 7% of average gradients! Let's see who's the strongest today!
Up we go! Tatarinov leads the pack on the first slopes, ahead of Habtemichael, Geniez, Stannard, Thill and Zabel - not all of them are really puncheurs...
Among the stage favorites, Pluchkin is best positioned, with Areruya taking whis wheel. Guldhammer and Martin are slightly further behind, just like Moazemi, Denifl, Eastman, Nerz, Uran, Konig, Preidler, Cattaneo, Carthy, Latour...
But Wellens is actually even further down and might have a hard time moving up front with so many riders in his way now!
2.5 uphill kilometers to go, as Tatarinov is still pulling up front. But it's now getting clear that Pluchkin and Areruya really have a great position, being in the first row of the actual peloton!
Cattaneo, Moazemi and Guldhammer are well positioned, too, followed by Preidler, Martin, Intxausti, Uran, Konig and Eastman.
Carthy at least still has Figueiredo with him, but is already quite far back, just like Wellens - although not as far as Latour and especially Denifl, who has lost a lot of positions in no time! Nerz is holding the Austrian's wheel, with Henao Montoya nearby, too.
Penasa however is the big loser of the last few hundreds of meters, having dropped back to the likes of Pantano Gomez, Min or Faiers!
And Abal? Last time we saw him, he was second-last of the pack - well, he still is...
Two kilometers to go! At least, the gravel roads are done for Tatarinov, Habtemichael, Geniez, Stannard, Thill and Borisavljevic! Areruya has now moved up, about level with Laas, who has a small gap to his leader Pluchkin!
Cattaneo, Guldhammer, Martin, Preidler, Konig and Intxausti are the next big names on the road, followed by Uran, Eastman, Wellens and Carthy. All others will surely struggle to get a notable result today!
1,500m to the line, and Habtemichael has now taken over from a tiring Tatarinov! Geniez, Stannard and Laas follow in this line, while Areruya already seems to be launching a very long-range sprint - with De la Cruz and Moazemi glued to his wheel!
Pluchkin still hasn't closed the gap to Laas, but has now passed Borisavljevic and is about to do the same with Thill. Schleck is still going strong, just like Squire, Robov and Ivanov, before we have Favilli leading out Guldhammer.
Cattaneo is next, followed by Martin who has taken Bostner's wheel. Konig and Preidler both are in contention for once, alongside Uran, who is followed by Eastman! Wellens is still further down, with Latour close by as well.
Denifl is still trying to move up, while Nerz has lost his wheel - and has even dropped behind Penasa!
Under the red kite, Moazemi has taken the lead, inches ahead of Habtemichael and half a bike length ahead Areruya, who seems to be tiring already!
Pluchkin has now caught up with Laas, while De la Cruz looks tired as well after his strong leadout! Tatarinov and Geniez are still up front as well - four Kraftwerk riders in the first 8 positions, that's a job well done so far!
It's also four Xero riders in the Top 10, though, as Schleck and Stannard are still going strong, too! We then have Borisavljevic and Bostner - and finally the next stage favorites with Guldhammer, Martin and Cattaneo!
Robov and Squire are strong puncheurs as well, and are absolutely in contention for a big result as well - however, the former might rather be leading out Preidler, who is on his wheel!
Tanovitchii, Thill, Uran and Ivanov are next, while Konig can't hold his teammate's wheel, and only his helmet is still visible on this image!
Then we have Intxausti, Poljanski and Eastman, with Latour and Wellens another bike length down - which is still better than Denifl and especially Carthy, who has lost a lot of ground lately!
800 meters to go, and now Pluchkin is clearly accelerating, having already moved up to 3rd! Moazemi seems to be running out of steam as well, but he's still ahead of Areruya and De la Cruz. However, Habtemichael is doing a stunning job so far - let's see if he has enough left to deliver a great result!
Cattaneo, Martin and Guldhammer still seem to be waiting with their final push - let's see if they can still launch in time!
But now Pluchkin is putting the hammer down with just 500m left! He won this stage last year - he's in the best possible position for doing the same today!
Habtemichael has now clearly moved past Moazemi again, with Areruya on his wheel - can the Rwandan find a second wind?
De la Cruz is doing a great job as well, looking stronger than Moazemi! Meanwhile, Martin has moved up, too; followed by Cattaneo and Preidler, the Irish champion is now alongside Laas.
On the other side of the road, Tatarinov is still holding on as well, but Guldhammer is about to overtake him. Schleck and Geniez are the remaining riders in the Top 13.
Behind, Wellens has gained a lot of positions, and now is already level with Intxausti and Uran - and still has Bostner ahead of him. Eastman, Latour and Konig are another bike length further down.
Behind the Czech, a gap is opening - meaning that Carthy really needs to hurry up if he wants to catch up with this first group! He's now some meters ahead of Denifl and Henao Montoya - while Penasa and especially Nerz, who only is under the red kite now, are really in danger of losing quite a lot of time today!
Pluchkin still has a solid lead with 300m to go, but Guldhammer and Martin are clearly closing in now! Habtemichael is still doing a great job as well, with Areruya still staying on his wheel. Moazemi and De la Cruz could get a great stage result for their team as well - with Tatarinov and Geniez not that far away, either!
Cattaneo tries to keep up with Martin, and Preidler currently seems to have chosen Areruya's wheel - let's see if that's the best choice!
And of course, let's not forget Laas and Schleck, who are on their way to a possible Top 10 as well!
Martin is getting closer and closer to Pluchkin, while Guldhammer seems to be slightly fading already! This trio seems to stand above the rest today - but we still have 200 meters to go!
Cattaneo is now moving up as well, almost level with Habtemichael now, and slightly ahead of De la Cruz and Moazemi. Areruya and Preidler are next, with Laas trying to hold De la Cruz' wheel.
Intxausti, Wellens, Uran, Eastman and Latour are the other GC favorites in the first group, whereas Konig seems to be losing touch as well. On the other side, we have Carthy sprinting to catch up - it will be a hard job!
Only 100 meters to the line - and it looks like it's going to be Pluchkin or Martin taking the win today! And you know what? They were numbers 1 and 2 last year as well - can the Irishman reverse the result this time?
Guldhammer is clearly falling back now - can Cattaneo even get that final podium spot? Or could Preidler, who is already almost neck-and-neck with the Italian, get a Top 3 in his home race?
Only 50 meters left - and Martin is almost level now! He has the outside lane, and hence less gradients and more speed - but more distance to cover as well! Which line is the better one?
Cattaneo doesn't seem to have enough left to challenge for a podium - but Preidler does! Can he catch Guldhammer on the closing meters?
And then we finally see a strong Uran as well - who came 4th last year, maybe a Top 5 is feasible again?
De la Cruz now clearly is the stronger Kraftwerk rider, while Areruya is still behind teammate Habtemichael!
It's a whole lot closer than a year ago, but the result is the same: Aleksandr Pluchkin wins stage 5 of the Österreich-Rundfahrt ahead of Daniel Martin! The GC leader gets his second stage win of the race - a race he probably can't lose anymore now!
Guldhammer is looking set for 3rd, but the fight for 4th will be close between Preidler and Uran!
Indeed, Rasmus Guldhammer gets his second podium of the race, after he scored the same result on stage 1. 4th place then goes to Georg Preidler, who did a good race today, but his final push just came too late. Rigoberto Uran gets his first satisfying stage result as well, taking 5th place.
Cattaneo and De la Cruz are fighting for 6th, while Habtemichael, Wellens, Areruya and Squire are trying to get one of the final Top 10 spots.
Mattia Cattaneo easily wins this duel - and had the race been some meters longer, he might have caught Uran and Preidler as well.
David De la Cruz finishes 7th, ahead of Tim Wellens and Daniel Habtemichael.
The final Top 10 spot will likely go to Squire, Areruya, Latour who's having a great final push, or Moazemi, who's hidden by the banners.
Pierre Latour rounds off today's Top 10, ahead of Arvin Moazemi and Joseph Areruya. Benat Intxausti finally sneaks past Robbie Squire as well, taking 13th. Jordan Schleck makes it three Xero riders in the Top 15 - great job!
Martin Laas, Gennadiy Tatarinov, Ryan Eastman, Alexandre Geniez and Borislav Ivanov take the remaining Top 20 spots - which means 4 Kraftwerk riders in the Top 20 - they definitely deserve the lead in the team standings!
We can see that Carthy has finally caught up with the front group, getting 22nd place. There is a small gap behind this group - let's see if it's enough to actually get some time gaps!
Konig leads home the next few riders - and indeed, they lose 32" today! Right behind him are Denifl and Henao Montoya, who might both lose their great GC spots!
Even way further down are Penasa - crossing the line right ahead of Gebremedhin - and Nerz. However, they are lucky, as they get the same time as Konig - which holds for Abal as well (and even for Zabel, by the way).
So, what does this all mean for the GC? One thing is clear - Pluchkin will likely be unbeatable for the 3rd time in a row. But what has happened behind? Let's figure that out while we first celebrate the stage winner - who will appear on the podium more than once today...
And that stage winner is... Aleksandr Pluchkin! Although his win today wasn't as dominant as last year, he still stands on top of that podium once again! He may have launched his sprint a tad too early, but finally was able to edge out Daniel Martin by a few inches - but the Irishman can still be content with his 2nd place!
3rd place then goes to Rasmus Guldhammer, like on stage 1, which was won by... Pluchkin, of course. Local hero Preidler launched a bit too late and has to settle for 4th - but at least he showed the world that he still knows how to do those finishes!
Aleksandr Pluchkin has claimed this jersey on day 1 - actually there was only one day in the last three years he didn't wear it - and chances are probably beyond 99% that he'll keep it until the end.
With his stage win, he has extended his lead on Tim Wellens to 40" - twice the stage win bonus seconds. Stefan Denifl was able to hold onto 3rd, 1'44" back - hence losing almost all the advantage he had on the strong time trialists Eastman and Cattaneo, who trail the Austrian by only 15" together with Latour. So we'll likely have a duel for 3rd in two days - or even for more?
Guldhammer has made a jump from 11th to 7th, while Nerz and Penasa have dropped from 4th and 6th to 9th and 10th. Henao Montoya, having the same time as Penasa, is 11th. So on the first 11 spots we have the same names as pre-stage, but not in the same order and with different gaps.
Just like the GC, Aleksandr Pluchkin has won the points jersey in the last two years - and he'll very, very likely win it this year as well. He now totals 63 points, which means that he has a 30 points lead on Florian Scheit, and 31 points on Rasmus Guldhammer! To overtake him, it would basically take two podium spots in the next two days - thereof a win - and it's hard to see who could do this...
Barring any disaster, we already have the final KoM standings by now, with no KoM sprint left. Ruben Fernandez wins the jersey with a total of 50 points, ahead of Florian Scheit with 31. Jarlinson Pantano Gomez finishes 3rd with 28 points. Congratulations to Aramco DP!
Joseph Areruya doesn't look overly happy, as he probably was hoping for more than 12th place on today's stage. But at least, he pretty much secured the U25 jersey, as Kyeng Ho Min lost another 32" today and now trails by 1'29". Given that they have about the same TT capabilities, this advantage should be enough.
We furthermore have a change on 3rd place, as Aular lost 32" as well - meaning that Jordan Schleck currently makes it two Xero riders on the podium! However, with the Ugandan being a horrible time trialists, those 31" of advantage against Aular might not be sufficient...
Although their team leader Nerz had a really bad day and lost his 4th GC place today, Kraftwerk Man Machine still were one of only three teams having three riders in the front group - even four in the Top 20...
Both DK - SVA Zalgiris and MOL only had one man up front, hence losing 1'04" on the stage - but they're still 2nd and 3rd. They trail by 4'16" and 5'19" now - it's hard to see how they could possibly gain that much time in the final time trial!
Well, all the topographical obstacles of this tour are done. Only the closing time trial is likely to have a major impact on the final result - not at the very top, though. Pluchkin once again showed his love for this race, getting his 7th stage win in three years, thereby almost securing GC and points standings for the 3rd time in a row - amazing! Let's see which sprinter has the most amazing legs tomorrow, as it's the 2nd and final opportunity for them to shine!
Int. Österreich-Rundfahrt 
