2020 Vuelta a España Stage 5 Results & Recap
Stage 5 of the 2020 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
Wellens takes victory on stage 5
Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) claimed a hilly stage five of the Vuelta a Espana, out sprinting his breakaway companions on an uphill finish to Sabiñánigo. The Belgian took advantage of his experience over lumpy terrain to assert his strength ahead on Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and Thymen Arensman (Sunweb), who finished second and third respectively.
“It feels super good," Wellens said after the 186km stage. "I had a very difficult period because I had a big crash before the Tour de France. There are no ups without downs. It makes this victory even better. Today was a special day because we raced for two hours before the break was gone. It was super hard. And then we were lucky enough to go for it with three riders at the front. The cooperation was super good. We were about at the same lead but I got the victory in the end. It was the team goal for La Vuelta and now we can ride with less stress and maybe get another victory with myself or my teammates. I was not so confident because I had the impression we were about as strong. I was surprised when Guillaume Martin stayed a bit behind after the first attack. And I went full gas to the line.”
The dominant Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) won the bunch sprint for fourth place, 2 minutes and 13 seconds back on the three riders ahead. He continues to lead the GC classification by 5 seconds ahead of Dan Martin, who crashed in the closing metres but was given the same time as the peloton. Richard Carapaz sits third at 13 seconds.
“Today was a fast and hard stage," Roglic said. "There isn’t much to say about it. It was a fast hard start but our guys were always on top of the game. It was a long fight for the breakaway and finally they went. Sepp [Kuss] was there. The last 500m were hard too. It’s another day behind us and I’m happy. [Kuss] can win! He’s in a great shape and we work together. In the end, it really doesn’t matter if he wins or I win, if we can win. We all do our best and then we can be proud about it.”
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