2023 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana Stage 5 Results & Recap
Stage 5 of the 2023 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
The Portuguese rider of Intermarché Circus Wanty won the last stage with the finish at l'Oceanogràfic and took the overall classification from the Italian Giulio Ciccone by 16 seconds. Tao Geoghegan Hart, who suffered a fall in the final kilometres, takes third place on the podium.
Chaos in the last stage of the VCV - Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana Gran Premi Banc Sabadell. What looked like a dangerous but salvageable day for overall leader Giulio Ciccone, turned into a real madness in the final kilometres. All the favourites for the general classification arrived in a small group and, amidst the confusion, the smartest rider was Portugal's Rui Costa. The Intermarché Circus Wanty rider attacked and managed to distance the rest together with Thymen Arensman, and crossed the finish line with enough advantage to, together with the time bonus for the stage victory, also take the overall.
The day started shortly before 15:00 in Paterna. The ribbon cutting ceremony was attended by Juan Antonio Sagredo Marco, Mayor of Paterna; José Manuel Mora Zamora, Deputy Mayor for the Culture of Effort and Modernisation of Paterna; Fernando Canós, deputy general manager of Banco Sabadell; Nuria Codina, regional director of Valencia South Banco Sabadell; Ángel Casero, General Manager of the VCV - Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana.
The faces of the riders at the signature control foreshadowed the chaos that was to follow. Few or no smiles, tension and nerves in a peloton that knew that any slip-up could turn the general classification upside down. And it did. Until the climb to La Frontera, the great attraction of the day, everything remained within logical parameters. A breakaway in front and the peloton to see it coming. But at La Frontera the skies opened up and the thunder came.
Vlasov's Bora-Hansgrohe made a mess of things and took out almost all the gregarious riders. Only the favourites for the general classification and a few guests remained in the lead. They reached La Frontera together and set out to tackle the 30 kilometres to the finish line with real tension. Nobody wanted to attack, but neither did they want to relax. The group was strong behind, but it was not enough. The stage, and possibly the overall, was for the one who went for it.
And the one who went for it was Rui Costa. The Portuguese, the most veteran of them all, attacked just before the finish line and found in Thymen Arensma, with no options for the general classification, a perfect ally. Both entered the finish line together, Rui Costa in front, achieving the double. Stage victory and yellow jersey. Behind, as a result of the confusion, there was a fall that generated more chaos if possible while waiting for the decision of the commissaires on the time to assign to each other, as the fall was within the last three kilometres. In the end, Rui Costa first, Giulio Ciccone second and Tao Geoghegan Hart third in, without a doubt, a Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana finish that will never be forgotten.
A day of true madness to say goodbye to a VCV 2023 that has given spectacle from the first to the last day and that says goodbye until 2024, where it will celebrate its 75th anniversary.\n
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