EF Education First gets its first win of the 2018 season as Simon Clarke wins Stage 5 of the 2018 Vuelta a Espana from a breakaway.
Stage 5 of the 2018 Vuelta a Espana was a 188.7km route from Granada to Roquetas de Mar on the Mediterranean Sea. The route served up two categorized climbs – the Cat.3 Alto de Orgiva and the Cat.2 Alto de Marchal. Just the two categorized climbs belied the route as there was barely a flat section of road over the entire distance. The race was still in the southern part of Spain, so heat was definitely a factor for the day as well.
The peloton mostly stayed together throughout the first third of race, even going over the Alto de Orgiva together. It was not until about 60km into the race when a lead group of 25 riders went away. In the group were Rudy Molard (GFC), Hermann Pernsteiner (TBM), Valerio Conti (UAD), Davide Villella (AST), Gianluca Brambilla (TFS), Merhawi Kudus (DDD), Bauke Mollema (TFS), Pavel Kochetkov (TKA), Stéphane Rossetto (COF), Brent Bookwalter (BMC), Floris De Tier (TLJ), Simon Clarke (EFD), Sepp Kuss (TLJ), Maurits Lammertink (TKA), Franco Pellizotti (TBM), Jai Hindley (SUN), Maxime Monfort (LTS), José Mendes (BBH), Alexandre Geniez (ALM), Mikel Iturria (EUS), Andrey Amador (MOV), Alessandro De Marchi (BMC), Lukas Pöstlberger (BOH), Matteo Trentin (MTS) and Jonathan Lastra (CJR).
With 88km to go, the lead for the break stretched out to nearly four minutes.
Rossetto & De Marchi decided that they needed a little more shoulder room and attacked the break at the 85km mark. By the 72km, they opened up a gap of a minute over chaser Valerio Conti, with a larger group another minute back and the peloton at 5’50”.
After the intermediate sprint point, won by Rossetto, De Marchi backed off the gas a little, giving Rossetto the solo lead for a while. De Marchi was soon joined by Simon Clarke and Bauke Mollema and they were able to go past Rossetto.
The trio were able to hold the lead all the way to the end, besting their chasers by more than a minute. Clarke won the finish line sprint with Bollema and De Marchi rounding out the podium.
2018 Vuelta a Espana Stage 5 Brief Results:
- Simon Clarke (EFD) at 4h
36’07” - Bauke Mollema (TFS) s.t.
- Alessandro De Marchi (BMC) s.t.
- Davide Villella (AST) at 8″
- Floris De Tier (TLJ) at 8″
- Rudy Molard (GFC) at 8″
General Classification after Stage 5:
- Rudy Molard (GFC) at 18h27’20”
- Michal Kwiatkowski (SKY) at 1’01”
- Emanuel Buchmann (BOH) at 1’08”
- Simon Yates (MTS) at 1’11”
- Alejandro Valverde (MOV) at 1’13”
- Wilco Kelderman (SUN) at 1’26”
- Jon Izaguirre (Bahrain Merida) at 1’31”
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