Today the riders tackle the real mountains for the first time – one by one against the clock. And after there have already been some time gaps in stage 4 today will give us an even clearer picture of who will be in the GC contention. And today’s winner will take over the KoM jersey as well.
Haldimann is last in the GC and so sets the first time. He finishes in 58’07.
Viennet is the first rider to real improve the time: 55’31.
After some rather minor improvements Knotten puts some time to the competition in 52’23[b/].
Dennis is the first decent climber in the competition. He sets the bar to [b]50’54.
After losing more than 7 minutes in stage 4 Madrazo is the first real climber on the road. His time is 50’11.
But the real bar for today is set by Carapaz. He’s already well back in the GC but his time of 49’14 should be a good bar for the stage win.
Borisavljevic is the first one to endanger the Ecuadorians time as he’s only 6’’ down at the second split. He finishes with the same difference.
The GC fight starts with Elosegui who lost 1’45 in stage 4. He’s 8’’ down at the second split and loses 10’’ in total.
Arensman was also among those losing time in stage 4, but today he’s flying with new best times at both splits. He also takes over the lead at the finish with 49’09, 5’’ faster than Carapaz.
Kozhatayev is the first dangerous rider who didn’t lose time (apart from bonuses) yet. He loses 38’’ today and takes over the provisional GC lead.
The next rider fighting for the GC lead is Lemus Davila. He loses 41’’ today, resulting in a provisional 2nd place overall only 3’’ behind.
Munoz loses 1’46 today, but without any previous losses that’s still good enough to remain in a good position GC-wise. Fabbro is the next in line, it’s quite like with Munoz in his case as he loses 1’36 today.
Vanhoucke does better. He only loses 40’’ which is good enough to take 2nd place in the provisional GC.
Iturria does equally well. The 39’’ he loses today are enough to take the provisional GC lead thanks to his time bonus from stage 4.
Smith loses 1’24 today. That’s not enough for a top spot in the GC, but he’s still easily in the top 10.
Bennett is leading the GC prior to today, but he loses 1’57 today and falls way down the GC, even behind some of his biggest rivals who lost time in stage 4.
Arensman not only wins today’s stage, he also takes over the KoM and U25 lead and is the best placed of the big GC favourites.
Iturria is the new man in yellow. Zhao remains in the green jersey while Trans Looney Tunes leads the team classification.
[C2] Vuelta al Tachira 
