As the Vuelta al Pais Vasco’s queen stage, today’s route was never going to be easy. After more than 150km in the mountains and crossing seven categorised climbs, Alberto Contador made his move on the final climb of the day. Leaving the GC favourites behind, Contador teamed up with Sky’s Henao to take a podium spot on the race’s final road stage and moved up to 2nd in the GC rankings. It all comes down to the final day’s Time Trial, where a 16.5km course will decide who takes the overall win.
The action began in Orio, the finish for stage 4, and took place over a mountainous 159km route that finished on the Arrate mountain. The stage took in eight tough climbs, before finishing on the first category Usartza. With the race ending in a time trial tomorrow in Eibar, this was the last opportunity for the out and out climbers to make an impact ahead of the time trial. The conditions however, were cold and wet, meaning there was every chance of crashes on the steep, technical descents.
Tinkoff’s leader, Alberto Contador, was wary of the conditions and how they could affect the race. “It was a complicated day that really brings out the hardships of the sport of cycling. We had to be focused and attentive all day long because of the combination of incredible downpours and very low temperatures. The race had a fast pace and the most important point was to stay well protected from the cold and eat.”
From the start line came the breaks – the climbers were eager to take as much time as possible, with a chase group as well as the breakaway in front of the peloton. As the day went on, these splits were caught, broke away again, and split again, and as the race hit the final 15km, there were four groups – the solo breakaway, and two sets of chasers, before the peloton. With Sky’s Landa in the second set of chasers, the peloton – where the favourites were sitting – had to make sure the Spanish Sky rider didn’t gain time over the other GC riders.
Sport Director, Steven De Jongh, explained how the race panned out. “It was a cold day out there as expected – but it was a big day in the race and a big one for the team. The boys really worked hard today. Michael Valgren worked well before the third last climb to keep the pace up for Alberto. On the top of that climb Roman Kreuziger was just behind the group with Alberto and Robert Kiserlovski there, but he already worked hard yesterday and didn’t manage to get back to it.”
After a stage where support from the team was so important, both in keeping him safe and to deliver him to the final climbs feeling fresh, Alberto was full of praise for his teammates, echoing his Sport Director’s comments. “The team supported me very well at all times. There were a few hectic moments but in the end we managed to control the stage and advance.”
The final 10km saw Alberto Contador at the front, looking comfortable and calm, and as the last of his teammates dropped off having brought him to the Usartzako, with 4.2km to go he started the bridge to the chasers, taking Henao with him and getting away from the peloton and the other favourites, he caught Landa quickly and flew past the chasers. The stage win wasn’t the aim today – but to take some final seconds from the favourites, and crossing the line in 3rd, this was exactly what he achieved.
Alberto Contador crosses the line to take 2nd in the GC
De Jongh continued. “So we had Alberto and Robert there. Robert had to work hard when Landa was in front – he pulled together with Movistar and set it up for Alberto to attack. Alberto was strong today and only Henao could go with him. They worked well together and finished together behind Diego Rosa who did a very impressive ride to win. Behind them there were two closing in fast, but then some more distance to the other GC contenders so he moved up into second and is in a good position ahead of tomorrow’s time trial.”
Alberto’s 3rd place finish today moved him up to 2nd in the GC rankings, six seconds behind the new race leader. The final day’s time trial will be the race decider. Covering a 16.5km course, there’s a steady climb in the first half, followed by an equally steady descent. This is not a course that will suit the outright TT specialists however, and will require climbing ability and great bike-handling skills in the final few kilometres.
“Now it’s all down to the tomorrow’s race.” said De Jongh of tomorrow’s stage. “We’ve already looked at the first part of the climb for tomorrow, and the descent goes down today’s final climb. It’s a decent climb and then a technical descent, being fast with an average gradient of over 9% average – and it will be very technical if it’s wet again. We will wait and see what tomorrow brings.”
With one day of the race left, Alberto was pleased at the overall time gains, but was waiting to see what tomorrow brings. “We gained time against some riders but the race remains still open. We have to make sure our legs work well tomorrow and we’ll see what result we get.”
Stage Result
1. Diego Rosa (ITA) Astana Pro Team 04:19:19
2. Sergio Henao (COL) Team Sky +00:03:13
3. Alberto Contador (SPA) Tinkoff +00:03:13
4. Joaquim Rodriguez (SPA) Team Katusha +00:03:15
5. Thibaut Pinot (FRA) FDJ +00:03:15
30. Robert Kiserlovski (CRO) Tinkoff +00:08:39
34. Michael Valgren (DEN) Tinkoff +00:09:06
51. Roman Kreuziger (CZE) Tinkoff +00:14:14
73. Evgeny Petrov (RUS) Tinkoff +00:22:22
GC after stage 5
1. Sergio Henau (COL) Team Sky 22:15:24
2. Alberto Contador (SPA) Tinkoff +00:00:06
3. Thibaut Pinot (FRA) FDJ +00:00:10
4. Joaquim Rodriguez (SPA) Team Katusha +00:00:12
5. Samuel Sanchez (SPA) BMC +00:00:31
31. Roman Kreuziger (CZE) Tinkoff +00:14:23
40. Robert Kiserlovski (CRO) Tinkoff +00:18:43
51. Michael Valgren (DEN) Tinkoff +00:25:12
101. Evgeny Petrov (RUS) Tinkoff +01:13:16
