And we’re back for stage five in Catalunya! Former yellow jersey Paez a three star favourite according to the race organisation, which is interesting as he should be looking out for his leader Mas.
Yesterday there were 31 riders in the break, today we’ll have to settle for ‘only’ 16. Lavery is the strongest on the Alt de Fontllonga (2nd cat.), ahead of Seigle, Schleck and Bevin. Pushpakumara also takes two KoM-points, which brings him to a fifth place in that ranking now. Other names in this group include Agostini, Umerbekov, Taillefour, Haas, Oram, Vandousselaere, Van Tricht, Drizners, Chaiyasombat, Hecht and Gough, which means our first KoM-winner is the only lone wolf at the head of the race. Strava, Aramco, Volcanica, BWT Hyundai, Gjensidige, Pas Normal and Trans currently working in the peloton.
Nobody cared about the first intermediate sprint. The teams in the peloton keeping the gap close, as the difference is 2’45” with 100 km to the finish line.
52 km left as the leading group is doing their first out of two ascents of the Alt de les Paumeres (1st cat.) They reach the top for the second time with still 21 km to the finish line, so a reduced bunch sprint at the finish is definitely a possibility.
He might be the only solo rider, he’s clearly one of the best in the leading group. Lavery attacks with 2.7 km to climb and takes up to 35” on the rest of the breakaway, great stuff by the Tafjord rider. Slowly but surely, an also very strong Rivera is responsible for catching the weaker climbers of said breakaway already.
Pushpakumara and the other Eddie Stobart riders picking up most of the remaining points. The Sri Lankan comes close, but is still two KoM-points behind polka dot leaders Vogt and Hecht. The McCormick rider tried to score points from the breakaway today, but hasn’t recovered enough from his earlier Catalunya efforts.
Lavery realizes a solo attack to the finish line is impossible and waits for some more riders to join him. Three out of five in the leading group are Eddie Stobart boys though, which is also not to the liking of the Tafjord rider. He attacks with 30 km to the finish line, Pushpakumara and Schleck seem to be able to follow him. Some McCormick riders in between the leading group and the peloton, which is 1’10” behind.
Not a lot of cooperation at the front though, which sees Hecht and Van Tricht joins the leading trio with 5 km to climb! The peloton, led by Gjensidige and Strava at only 42”.
Roson my man what you doing?! The Gjensidige rider listening to his heart instead of his mind as he attacks with 24 km to the finish line! 3 km left to climb for him on the Alt de les Paumeres! Knox for Trans and Molard for Strava trying to close the gap, Amador also within the first five positions in the peloton!
The Gjensidige rider leaves all breakaway riders behind quite easily, as he has a 25” gap over the peloton with 1.5 km to the top! White jersey McNulty leading the chase now, with Paez, green jersey McEvoy and Chaves the first in his wheel.
McEvoy tries to close the gap, but the Trans rider has to sit down rather quickly. Chaves takes the wheel and crosses the top as the first rider, only Paez and Roson able to hang on! Palini close as well. Kozhatayev doing the work in the group of twelve 30” behind the lead of the race, but don’t know what for as he has no teammates there and isn’t a good sprinter.
The Hyundai rider drops everyone expect yellow jersey Mas, but the latter isn’t helping him with teammate Paez up front! That might change now though, as Chaves attacks with 18 km to the finish line! The first eight riders at 15” of the yellow jersey here are Kuss, Diaz, Potocki, Amador, Azman, Vogt, Martin and Gillett!
Chaves going up to 80km/h in the descent, but so are his three chasers! Paez, Roson and Palini at ten seconds with 10 km to the finish line! Kozhatayev and Mas at an additional 20”, and the eight other mentioned riders yet another 20” behind! Nr. 9 in GC De Vos currently at 50” of the yellow jersey group, whereas Iino (2nd), McEvoy (green jersey) and Borisavljevic (7th) are an additional 35” behind! Not a good day for Trans!
Kozhatayev gets tired and as Mas refuses to take over, the group of eight behind the race lead becomes a group of ten. The ten currently 33” behind the race lead with 6.7 km left, as Chaves has been caught by his three chasers!
Final 2.5 km and it seems like the race organisation had everyone fooled as the road is not flat but slightly uphill! Instead of a sprint of four this might as well become a sprint of fourteen, as the chasing group is close to making contact now! First rider behind these fourteen is already more than a minute behind!
Have a look at that! Nobody wants to start sprinting too soon, which allows many riders to come back! All of a sudden we see a leading group of 36 and others also very close! 1.5 km left and this is anybody’s race to win!
Chaves seems to have regained enough energy, as he starts his sprint with 800 meters to go! Diaz the first rider behind him!
400 meters left for the Volcanica rider, as he has built a nice gap over Diaz, Vogt and Azman!
Paez launching his sprint as well now, but Chaves seems to be quite certain he has this one in the bag! Still 150 meters though!
And he’s clearly right! Chaves wins the fifth stage of the Volta a Catalunya! Paez (2nd) and Azman (3rd) finish on the podium as well, while yellow jersey Mas (4th) and KoM-leader Vogt complete the top-5. Other top-10 places go to Roson (6th), Diaz (7th), Palini (8th), Barta (9th) and Amador (10th).
