2018 Vuelta a España Stage 5 Results & Recap
Stage 5 of the 2018 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
Clarke wins stage 5\nBy Clara Beard
Simon Clarke (Education First-Drapac) claimed stage honors ahead of Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) and Alessandro De Marchi (BMC) after spending the day in the early breakaway. The trio came out of a 25 strong break and held off a chase, containing new red jersey winner, Rudy Molard (FDJ).
“It’s just amazing,” Clarke said. “I’ve worked so hard since the last time I won a stage here (in 2012) and I just couldn’t repeat it. It took a long time to get back there. My stars aligned. Today I knew I had good legs, but in a break with so many riders the cooperation is never very good. As we saw, the winning move went on the descent. It was a tricky one to pick. I grew up on the tracks since I was 15 and in the last kilometres it was like track racing. I knew that De Marchi is fast, but with such a long stage it’s so hard to sprint. I was even cramping when Mollema attacked. I was so worried with the chasers behind, but in these situations you have to stay as cold as ice.”\nMolard is now leading the overall GC, a minute and one second ahead of Michel Kwiatkowski. The FDJ rider was the only one to move up in the top 18 of GC.\n \n“My goal was actually to win the stage but I’m happy with the red jersey,” Molard said. “When I saw the front group was gaining time on us I focused on a different goal and the leadership but I only believed in it once I crossed the finish line. It was not expected. We’re here to work for Thibaut (Pinot) and Marc (Sarreau) in the sprints. A leader’s jersey in a Grand Tour means a lot. It’s something unique, very special, that many riders would like to enjoy for a day. I’d like to keep it until Sunday. There are three easier days ahead with sprint finishes.”
It took a good 60 kilometres before a breakaway managed to establish itself during the 188.7km stage. The breakaway included Hermann Pernsteiner, Franco Pellizotti (Bahrain-Merida), Alexandre Geniez (AG2R-La Mondiale), Davide Villella (Astana), Alessandro De Marchi, Brent Bookwalter (BMC), Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ), Maxime Monfort (Lotto-Soudal), Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott), Andrey Amador (Movistar Team), Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data), Simon Clarke (Education First-Drapac), Maurits Lammertink, Pavel Kochetkov (Katusha-Alpecin), Floris De Tier, Sepp Kuss (LottoNL-Jumbo), Jai Hindley (Team Sunweb), Bauke Mollema, Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo), Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates), José Mendes (Burgos-BH), Jonathan Lastra (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis) and Mikel Iturria (Euskadi-Murias).
With the gap extending out to six minutes, the breakaway inevitably split leaving Mollema, De Marchi and Clarke in the lead. Villella, Molard and De Tier took up the chase on the final climb but could never quite catch the trio. \nAfter a downhill stretch and some cat and mouse games, Clarke played his cards right and outsprinted his rivals. \n
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