2017 Vuelta a España Stage 5 Results & Recap
Stage 5 of the 2017 Vuelta a España is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Lutsenko wins stage 5
Alexey Lutsenko attacked breakaway companion Marco Haller (Katusha-Alpecin) at the beginning of the last, brutal climb of stage 5 to ride away to victory. The Astana rider held off a charging Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data) by 42 seconds while Marc Soler (Movistar Team) finished third at 56 seconds.
A few minutes back, Chris Froome (SKY) crossed the line with a select group of GC contenders to keep his red jersey. Tejay Van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) moved up two places to bump up to second overall at 10 seconds. Esteban Chaves (Orica - Scott) now sits third at 11 seconds.
Lutsenko was part of a 17-man breakaway which separated on the first of five categorized climbs. The others in the break included: Julian Alaphilippe (QST), Rubén Fernández (MOV), Marc Soler (MOV), Michael Schwarzmann (BOH), Alexis Gougeard (ALM), Davide Villella (CDT), Marco Haller (KAT), Matvey Mamykin (KAT), Matej Mohoric (UAD), Valerio Agnoli (TBM), Jérémy Maison (FDJ), Merhawi Kudus (DDD), Lluís Mas (CJR), Héctor Sáez (CJR), Michel Kreder (ABS) and Jetse Bol (MZN).
King of the Mountain leader Villella scooped up all maximum points, save for the last climb to further extend his lead in the mountains classification. His closest rival is Lluís Mas (Caja Rural - Seguros), who challenged the Cannondale rider a few times, but was never able to outdo him for the points.
On the second to last climb, Haller wasn’t waiting for anyone and attacked solo, quickly gaining 30 seconds on a fractured breakaway. Two riders out of the original break, Mohoric and Lutsenko took up chase and eventually caught Haller. The effort caused Mohoric to blow up and leave Haller to recover on the wheel of Lutsenko.
With 13 kilometres to go, Marco Haller (KAT) and Alexey Lutsenko (AST) were still the leaders of the race while Merhawi Kudus (DDD), Marc Soler (MOV), Matej Mohoric (UAD), Julian Alaphilippe (QST) and Alexis Gougeard (ALM) ended up chasing.
On the final climb, Lutsenko took advantage of the steep gradient nearing 20 percent and easily dispatched Haller. From there, the Kazakh rider never looked back until he saw the finish line, zipped up his jersey and celebrated the biggest win of his career.
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