Albert Contador won his second consecutive stage in the 2014 Tirreno-Adriatico today, and in the process moved into the overall race lead by a huge two-minute margin over Nairo Quintana.
It was a domineering display from the Spanish rider, who for the first time in quite awhile, looked like the rider once synonymous with Grand Tour victories.
Meanwhile, blue jersey holder, Michal Kwiatkowski, "blew" himself out on the penultimate climb of the Passo Lanciano, and conceded roughly three minutes to Contador.
In the meantime, Contador made his move on the Passo Lanciano, where he attacked explosively – causing carnage amongst the rest of the field. However, at one point, Quintana briefly looked as though he might join him, but soon faded away as Contador maintained a ruthless pace.
As Contador reached the base of the challenging Muro di Guardiagrele – the Spaniard caught what remained of the original breakaway group containing Ben King (Garmin-Sharp), Simon Geschke (Giant-Shimano), David De La Cruz (NetApp-Endura) and Adam Hanson (Lotto-Belisol). From there, the group proceeded to build up a gap of two minutes over the chase group containing Quintana.
As the group continued on the climb, King surprisingly attacked, with Geschke latching on closely. However, Contador responded with an acceleration of his own, subsequently putting considerable distance between himself and second place finisher Geschke.
With Quintana’s group finishing a full minute and a half behind, there seems to be no contenders left capable of catching up with Contador now.
Additionally, the race lost one of it’s main contenders today, when Richie Porte pulled out due to illness.
Stage 5 Results ESP 1 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto (TINKOFF-SAXO) 4:54:42 GER 2 GESCHKE, Simon (GIANT-SHIMANO) + 6 USA 3 KING, Benjamin (GARMIN SHARP) + 45 AUS 4 HANSEN, Adam (LOTTO BELISOL) + 1:01 FRA 5 PERAUD, Jean-Christophe (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 1:25 ITA 6 CARUSO, Giampaolo (KATUSHA) + 1:39 CZE 7 KREUZIGER, Roman (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 1:42 ITA 8 POZZOVIVO, Domenico (AG2R LA MONDIALE) COL 9 ARREDONDO MORENO, Julian David (TREK FACTORY RACING) ITA 10 NOCENTINI, Rinaldo (AG2R LA MONDIALE)
General Classification after Stage 5 ESP 1 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto (TINKOFF-SAXO) 21:01:30 COL 2 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander (MOVISTAR) + 2:08 CZE 3 KREUZIGER, Roman (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 2:15 COL 4 ARREDONDO MORENO, Julian David (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 2:39 FRA 5 PERAUD, Jean-Christophe (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 2:40 ESP 6 NIEVE ITURALDE, Mikel (SKY) + 2:50 ESP 7 MORENO FERNANDEZ, Daniel (KATUSHA) + 2:51 ITA 8 POZZOVIVO, Domenico (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 2:56 ITA 9 CARUSO, Giampaolo (KATUSHA) + 2:58 CRO 10 KISERLOVSKI, Robert (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 3:06
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