Stage 5 is the first of the two major summit finishes in this year’s Tirreno-Adriatico. The peloton face two Cat 2 climbs relatively early in the 195k stage and then a long flat run to the Cat 1 rated final climb where the stage will be decided. Yesterday Herklotz opened his account. If he is hungry enough he could possibly win all the remaining stages. Although he will likely need help from others to shut down the breakaways.
Herklotz once again tops the favorites list, this time joined by the other two big climbers, Dombrowski and Morton.
The race starts in wet conditions and with an uncategorized climb, neither of which discourages early fireworks. 5k in there is a front group of 5, a chasing group of 5 and two more solo riders trying to escape the peloton. But with only a minute covering them all the situation is dynamic.
15kms ridden and 10km to the base of the first cat 2. The front group which includes, Lastra, Higuita, Carcueva, Vingegaard, and Kukrle has 25 seconds over the 2nd group and 57 seconds over the Puma and Amaysim led peloton. The second group includes: Koshevoy, Novikov, Cink, Feng, Shalunov, and Krul.
The breakaway groups come together as they reach the base of the Passo Sallegri (8.4k at 5.0%) except for Feng who has been dropped. The lead is 1’13 and the peloton is easing off.
At the top the points go to Cink. Krul has been dropped and is about 2 minutes down along with Feng. The peloton is already 4’22 behind.
The full mountain points are: Cink 10 (10) Novikov 8 (8) Higuita 6 (16) Kukrle 4 (4) Koshevoy 2 (2)
Higuita, getting a chance to ride for himself today, is now in a tie for the virtual KOM lead. He is also the best placed of these riders on GC at 2’24.
With 141km to go the breakaway passes the first sprint point without sprinting. Their lead is 3’53 with Krul and Feng in no man’s land. All the teams of the top GC riders are working in the peloton.
133km to go for the peloton as they reach the base of the 2nd Cat 2 climb to Le Arette (12.7k at 4.1%). They are 2’49 behind the breakaway.
1.8k from the top and the conditions are very tough, nevertheless, Novikov goes on the attack.
But neither of the Tinkoff riders is able to take advantage of his aggression, instead Carcueva bursts past to take first with Higuita 2nd. The Xero rider now has sole possession of the virtual KOM. The peloton is at 3’29.
The full placings are: Carcueva 10 (10) Higuita 8 (24) Novikov 6 (14) Koshevoy 4 (6) Vingegaard 2 (2)
The next 100k are mostly flat now with a an uncategorized climb starting with about 20k to go and the final climb starting 16km from the end of the stage.
With 95km to go the peloton puts Krul out of his misery (having done the same for Feng shortly before). The remaining 9 breakaway riders have a lead of 2’14.
With 80km to go the lead is 2’30
With 60km to go the lead is 2’09. Work been done by Aegon, Zwift, Huski, EA, Popo4ever, Farfetch and Amaysim. Puma happy to let them do it.
With 40km to go Huski take control of the peloton. Th lead is 1’40, Lastra and Kukrle have been dropped from the break and can be seen just ahead. Both of them have teammates still up front.
At the 2nd sprint point the peloton has the break in sight. There was a brief flurry of attacks in the break but it all came back together. Soon they will reach the uncategorized climb and then the climb to Terminillo.
As the peloton reach the bottom of the climb Novikov, who attacked the breakaway a little earlier, has a lead of 1’05 over the peloton with the remaining 5 breakaway riders, Higuita, Carcueva, Vingegaard, Koshevoy, and Cink, 9 seconds behind him. The climb is 15.8km at 7.3%.
With 14km to go Aranburu goes to the front of the peloton which is now 45 seconds behind Novikov. Higuita, Vingegaard and Koshevoy are the only other survivors but their days are numbered. The peloton is down to 77 riders and Bewley (2nd on GC) has been dropped. Karnulin (14th) is the next highest-placed rider to be dropped. Koep (19th) has also been dropped.
Soon after Brambilla (18th) and Mamykin (16th) are dropped.
With 12.7k to go the first GC attack comes from Guldhammer, Dombrowski quickly on his wheel and Cattaneo and Olivier react just behind.
They quickly catch Novikov but all the GC riders react. Majka (20th) is dropped.
Guldhammer persists and with 11km to go he squeezes out a 17 second advantage over a 19-rider chase group. Missing from the chase group are Sivakov (9th and 1st in young rider) and Berhane (15th) who is a minute further back and really struggling. The pouring rain may not be to the Eritrean’s liking.
Dombrowski bridges across to Guldhammer bringing the race leader with him.
As they reach the 10k banner the two counter attackers have opened up 12 seconds on Guldhammer and 31 seconds on an 11-rider elite chase group with all the rest of the expected GC contenders (except Berhane).
8.6 km to go, Dombrowski continues to do all the work on the front. Guldhammer has fought his way back to them. 35 seconds behind Morton has taken up the chase and Padun (12th on GC, 3rd in Young rider) has been dropped as has Aular (11th and 2nd). Those two will have a private battle for the White Jersey over the next 9k, right now Padun has a 13 second advantage. Although they can only lose 1’20 or so to Areruya or he will take it over. He is still in the chase group.
7km to go and Herklotz attacks. While Cattaneo is the first of the top GC riders to show weakness.
Herklotz quickly opens a 30-second gap as the chase groups come back together and Pluchkin launches an attack. At the back of the group Yates and Godoy have been dropped.
5k to go for the World Champion, he has 34 second on Pluchkin, who has opened up 40 seconds on a 6 rider chase group including Areruya, Guldhammer, Roglic, Olivier, Dombrowski, and Morton. The gap back to Padun is 1’23 so Areruya looks to be taking over the young rider jersey.
3.5k for the leader, the situation is about the same except now there is snow with the rain and his lead has gone up to almost a minute. Yates is 38 seconds behind the 6-rider chase group pictured with Godoy another 11 seconds back and Cattaneo 6 seconds behind him.
2km for Herklotz, his lead is 1’32. Pluchkin has 47 seconds over the 6-rider group behind him. Cattaneo, Yates and Godoy are all together now as the 4th group on the road another 48 seconds back. Vosekalns and Smith are also with them.
1k for Super Silvio, his lead is 1’41. The situation behind unchanged.
Yesterday a narrow win on a downhill, today a dominant win in the mountains.
Pluchkin takes 2nd, a strong ride in the battle to be 2nd best. He loses 1’50 to the winner but gains 34 seconds on his rivals.
Behind, with 500m to go, Guldhammer seizes an advantage over the rest of the group.
A great 3rd place for Carlsberg, 8 seconds later Areruya takes 4th and White. But both these riders will be regretting the silly time loss on Stage 3.
5th to 8th go to Dombrowski, Olivier, Morton and Roglic. The first 3 on the same time as Areruya, Roglic loses 23 seconds (2’55 behind Herklotz).
Vosekalns takes 9th with a fast finish and Cattaneo follows him home for 10th at 3’44.
The top two on the stage are the top two on GC and Morton moves up to 3rd 5 seconds ahead of Olivier and 15 seconds ahead of Dombrowski.
Xero take two jerseys with Areruya in White and Higuita in the mountain jersey. Herklotz takes over the points lead and is just 4 points off the KOM lead, with the points he won at the finish.
Popo4ever take over the team lead, 57 seconds ahead of Puma.
Tirreno-Adriatico 
