Stage 5 sees the peloton return to the mountains. Another stage with a single big climb at the end. This stage is a little longer at 162k but also probably has the least climbing over the rest of the stage. The final climb is proceeded by just a Cat 3.
Regardless of the amount of climbing Lecuisinier is going to be the favorite on mountain stages in this field. He once again tops the list ahead of Dombrowski and Wellens.
The stage starts with a Cat 3 climb (8.2k at 5%) and there are quickly 15 riders off the front. The lastest 3 were Munoz, Miller, and Tesfaye Heyi. It is raining as it has done nearly every day of this race.
4k to climb, Evonik fighting to limit the size of the break. They brought back Munoz, Miller and Tesfaye and the next attack but have now allowed a group of 6 to go, bringing the total riders off the front to 18.
At the top of the climb the points are taken by Badilatti, Prado, and Vasyliv. None of those 3 had any KOM points coming in. The other 8 in the front group are Pomoshnikov, Fouche, Stancu, Potocki, Abdurrahman, Perez, Balmer, and Colombo. They have 48 seconds on a 7-rider chase group and 2’41 on the peloton. In the chase group are Vanhoucke, Misbah, Schir, Hamilton (4th in KOM), Ho (2nd in KOM), Tesfaye Heyi, and Mathis. The best placed among the 18 is Pomoshnikov, who is 8’25 down on GC in 15th.
Fast-forwarding to 110k to go, the break has come together in an 18-man group, and are on the second cat 3 of the 3 on the menu. This one is 7.7% at 5.7%. Their lead is 4’40 with Evonik doing all the chasing.
At the top Hamilton takes 6 points with Ho failing to score. The finishing climb is HC so these KOM points will only matter if the break can stay away to the end. Right now they lead by 5’17.
55k to go for the peloton, they trail the break by 7’45 which is about as large as the gap has been. The race leader is sitting about 10 riders back and looking comfortable on the wheel of Gavars. The rest of the team is on the front.
At the top of the final cat 3 Hamilton just holds off Van Houcke and takes 4 more points putting him on 37, 1 down on Ho, who again failed to score, and 3 down on Lecuisinier. From here the riders have about 5k of descending before the final climb which is 28k at 5.1% with the steepest sections in the second half.
The peloton starts the final climb 8 minutes down on the break where Mathis has been dropped. No riders have been dropped from the peloton.28k to go.
15k to climb for the break. Colombo has also been dropped. The peloton has begun to lose riders but they are still 7’44 down.
An attack from Stancu splits the break, with him are Prado, Potocki Abdurrahman, Perez, Hamilton, Ho, and Tesfaye Heyi
With 16.5k to climb Novak attacks the peloton.
Battistella shuts it down about 1.7k later.
Just as the second group is catching the first group Abdurrahman attacks and Prado, Stancu and Potocki follow. Balmer has been permanently dropped leaving 15 riders in contention for the stage win.
With 9k to climb the front two groups come back together. There are 12 riders left at the front now as Fouche, Tesfaye Heyi and Badilatti have been dropped. The 106-rider peleton is 7’32 behind, there are still 4 Evonik riders on the front plus Foss protecting the leader.
Schir is the next to attack the break.
Schir’s group quickly open up a 1 minute advantage on the next 6. With Schir are Potocki, Abdurrahman, Prado, Vasyliv, and Pomoshnikov. With the peloton at 7’32 the Sauber rider is sitting second on the virtual GC.
Under the 10k banner Novak attacks again, this time Barguil follows and then Dombrowski reacts which brings out Lecuisinier. The peloton down to 76 riders with the big surprise being that Min, 12th on GC, is among those dropped.
The 4 attackers get a small gap with Dombrowski doing a lot of the work, while Mas leads the chase. Up front Potocki, Vayliv and Pomoshnikov have gapped the other 3.
4.8k to go, Potocki is dropped from the front of the race. The 4 GC attackers are at 6’26, the peloton at 6’42.
Mas brings an elite selection of 24 riders back up to the Lecuisinier group. Additional riders dropped from the GC top 20 are Almeida (13th), Schelling (15th) and Eenkhoorn (20th).
2k to climb for the leaders. Potocki has been holding the gap at right about 20 seconds. The next 3, Prado, Abdurrahman and Schir are another 56 second behind. The Yellow jersey group is at 6’36 and still being led by Zara.
4.3k for the leaders as Dombrowski attacks again. Wellens and Tenorio go with him, and again, Lecuisinier covers the attack.
Under 4k to go Barguil and Reis are doing the chasing as the 4 attackers open up a 35-second gap. For now, Almeida and Schelling have caught back up with the chase group which has swelled to 39 riders. The front two are in the last kilometer, Potocki has dropped back so it will be a two-man battle for the win.
600 meters to go the gradients are some of the steepest of the climb, Vayliv seems to have the edge.
Both leaders crack but Pomoshnikov manages to go by his rival first. Behind work from Choi has split 9 riders off the front of the chase group, all of the GC top 10 in that group or with the Yellow Jersey group, who have 34 second lead over them.
With 100 meters to ride Pomoshnikov celebrates. He takes a great stage win for Sauber, now we will see how far up the GC he can move.
1.7k to go, riders all over the mountain. Lecuisinier (4th rider in the middle group in the picture) drives the pace in the Yellow Jersey group. Ahead of him are Fouche, Badilatti and Tesfaye Hayi from the break, with him is Wellens, behind are Dombrowski, who may have done too much earlier, and Tenorio. The Choi group are 39 seconds down.
As they reach the 1k banner Wellens and Lecuisinier have 26 seconds on Dombrowski and Tenorio who look like they might be caught by the Choi group. Wellens needed 33 seconds to take 2nd from Dombrowski. Ahead Potocki has taken 3rd on the stage and Abdurrahman 4th.
Wellens and Lecuisinier turn on to the finishing ramp and catch 3 more breakaway riders. Fouche still with them, he needs to gain 1’20 on Almeida to take the young rider’s jersey. He has 1’46 right now. Dombrowski and Tenorio have been caught by the Choi group, they are 33 seconds behind the Yellow Jersey.
Prado, Schir, Stancu, Misbah, and Vanhoucke have taken 5th to 9th on the stage.
On the finishing ramp Olivier gets a gap on the Choi group while Novak is dropped from that group.
After Hamilton, Fouche, and Ho take 10th to 12th, Lecuisinier edges Wellens for 13th, 5’07 behind the winner. In the next group Choi and Padun have caught Olivier.
Padun takes 15th ahead of Olivier and Choi plus Perez from the break. They lose 15 seconds to the Yellow Jersey
Reis takes 19th ahead of Bennet and Barguil. They lose 39 seconds to the Yellow Jersey
Dombrowski finishes in the next goup and loses 54 seconds to the Yellow Jersey. Dombrowki over-estimated himself and loses 2nd to Wellens.
GC-wise the big winner on the day is Pomoshnikov who moves up to 4th overall. With a tough stage but not a summit finish tomorrow he will be optimistic that he can hold on to that. Fouche gains enough time to take over the best young rider jersey from Almeida by 33 seconds.
Lecuisinier holds on to the KOM lead as Hamilton took only 2 points at the finish leaving himself 1 point behind PHL, Lecuisinier also retains the points lead and Evonik the teams lead.
Vuelta a Colombia 
