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2017 Vuelta a Espana: Stage 5 Results

  • Ron 

Astana Pro Team’s Alexey Lutsenko prevailed on the uphill finish of Stage 5 of the 2017 Vuelta a Espana. The 175.7km stage went from Benicàssim to Ermita Santa Lucía and the climb to Alcossebre.

‘Incredible Ride’ for Kudus

Team Dimension Data’s Merhawi Kudus put in an incredible ride to place 2nd on the stage. Kudus made the decisive breakaway of the day, but was caught on the day’s penultimate climb.

Kudus and Lutsenko started the final 3km climb 40 seconds behind the leaders and almost immediately, were able to drop them as the road pointed upwards. Kudus flew into 2nd place on the road but Lutsenko was riding well to keep his advantage. In the end, the climb was not long enough for Kudus to claw back Lutsenko, but a courageous ride nonetheless from the 23-year-old Eritrean saw him finish 2nd on the stage.

“It was quite hard to be in the breakaway today, spending over 4 hours in the wind and then having to finish on a very steep climb like that,” said Kudus. “There was a headwind most of the day but luckily, we were a lot of guys in the break so we could keep the gap over the peloton. On the 2nd last climb the attacking started, it wasn’t very steep so it didn’t suit me but I just followed as best I could. Having to chase those 2 guys on a flat road before the last steep climb was really difficult. I am very happy with 2nd position though, I am motivated to take another opportunity now.”

Vilella Extends KOM Lead

Davide Villella successfully defended his lead in the Vuelta a Espana King of the Mountain classification on Wednesday. The Italian was part of a 17-rider breakaway that formed before the first of five categorized climbs on stage five and picked up maximum points on all but one climb.

“I focused most of my energy on the mountain points,” said Villella. “Perhaps because of that I was not as brilliant in the final as I wanted and hoped.”

By stage end, he had claimed an additional 18 points and opened up his lead to 19 points over Caja Rural’s Lluís Mas. It’s numerically impossible for Villella to lose the jersey on stage six.

Stage 5 Brief Results:

  1. Alexey Lutsenko (Kazakhstan / Astana Pro Team) 4:24:58″
  2. Merhawi Kudus (Eritrea / Team Dimension Data) +42″
  3. Marc Soler (Spain / Movistar Team) +56″
  4. Matej Mohoric (Slovenia / UAE Team Emirates) +1:11″
  5. Alexis Gougeard (France / AG2R La Mondiale) +1:24″
  6. Marco Haller (Austria / Katusha-Alpecin) +1:37″
  7. Julian Alaphilippe (France / Quick-Step Floors) +1:40″
  8. Jetse Bol (Netherlands / Manzana Postobon Team) +2:04″
  9. Matvey Mamykin (Russia / Katusha-Alpecin) +2:18″
  10. Jeremy Maison (France / FDJ) +2:31″

General Classification After Stage 5:

  1. Chris Froome (Britain / Team Sky) 18:07:10″
  2. Tejay van Garderen (U.S. / BMC Racing Team) +10″
  3. Esteban Chaves (Colombia / Orica-Scott) +11″
  4. Nicolas Roche (Ireland / BMC Racing Team) +13″
  5. David De La Cruz (Spain / Quick-Step Floors) +23″
  6. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / Bahrain-Merida) +36″
  7. Fabio Aru (Italy / Astana Pro Team) +49″
  8. Adam Yates (Britain / Orica-Scott) +50″
  9. Simon Yates (Britain / Orica-Scott) +1:09″
  10. Michael Woods (Canada / Cannondale-Drapac) +1:13″
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