photo credits @ Le Tour
Phil Bauhaus (Team Sunweb) out-classed his rivals during the sprint finale in today’s stage 5 of the Critérium du Dauphiné in Macon.
The young German rider launched a final surge during the waning moments of today’s stage to nix Arnaud Demare (FDJ) and Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie) by a mere bike-length the claim the podium honors.
Meanwhile, race leader Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) finished safely in the peloton to retain his grip on the overall race lead.
Race Highlights
It wasn’t until after 15 kilometers of racing had gotten underway, that a small breakaway group containing Koen Bouwman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Drapac), Marco Minnaard (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Julien El Farès (Delko Marseille), managed to escape.
From there, the breakaway group went on to establish a maximum advantage of a five minutes over the peloton.
Bouwman was the first rider to be reclaimed by the chase with 22 kilometers go, while his former breakaway companions remained out front with less than a one minute lead over the peloton.
A further 5 kilometers later, El Farès was dropped from the breakaway group as well, while Van Baarle proceeded to distance Minnaard with a solo attack.
Van Baarle remained out front until the final 6 kilometers, where the Cannondale-Drapac rider was finally caught.
Team Sky then took to the front, sharing the pace-setting duties alongside Katusha and Bahrain-Merida during final few kilometers.
Katusha led during the final run-in, which featured a number of tricky roundabouts and turns.
Bahrain-Merida later joined the Russian team during the closing 1,500 meters, while the green jersey of Arnaud Démare (FDJ) was about 10 riders back.
Alexandre Kristoff (Katusha) led into the last 300 meters, but was forced to begin his sprint too early.
Meanwhile, Balhaus came up fast from behind, carving a straight line up the middle to pass both Ben Swift (Bahrain-Merida) and Kristoff.
In the meantime, Démare found himself boxed in behind Balhaus and a surging Coquard on his left.
Despite a determined effort on the part of Démare, Balhaus was ultimately successful in holding-off the fast approaching French rider, as both men sprinted for the finish in earnest.
Stage 5 Results GER 1 BAUHAUS, Phil (SUNWEB) 4:04:32 FRA 2 DEMARE, Arnaud (FDJ) FRA 3 COQUARD, Bryan (DIRECT ENERGIE) FRA 4 PETIT, Adrien (DIRECT ENERGIE) FRA 5 BOUHANNI, Nacer (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) NOR 6 KRISTOFF, Alexander (KATUSHA ALPECIN) GER 7 ACKERMANN, Pascal (BORA – HANSGROHE) NOR 8 BOASSON HAGEN, Edvald (DIMENSION DATA) ITA 9 BATTAGLIN, Enrico (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) BEL 10 NAESEN, Oliver (AG2R LA MONDIALE) ITA 11 COLBRELLI, Sonny (BAHRAIN – MERIDA) BEL 12 VANSPEYBROUCK, Pieter (WANTY – GROUPE GOBERT) LTU 13 SISKEVICIUS, Evaldas (DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE KTM) JPN 14 ARASHIRO, Yukiya (BAHRAIN – MERIDA) NZL 15 SMITH, Dion (WANTY – GROUPE GOBERT) GBR 16 SWIFT, Ben (UAE Team Emirates) FRA 17 GALLOPIN, Tony (LOTTO SOUDAL) DEN 18 FUGLSANG, Jakob (ASTANA) ESP 19 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) FRA 20 LATOUR, Pierre Roger (AG2R LA MONDIALE)
General Classification after Stage 5 BEL 1 DE GENDT, Thomas (LOTTO SOUDAL) 17:10:25 AUS 2 PORTE, Richie (BMC RACING) + 27 ESP 3 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) + 51 NED 4 CLEMENT, Stef (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) + 55 ESP 5 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto (TREK – SEGAFREDO) + 1:02 GBR 6 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) + 1:04 USA 7 BOOKWALTER, Brent (BMC RACING) + 1:12 ESP 8 HERRADA LOPEZ, Jesus (MOVISTAR) + 1:15 NED 9 OOMEN, Sam (SUNWEB) + 1:17 ITA 10 ULISSI, Diego (UAE Team Emirates) + 1:22 FRA 11 LATOUR, Pierre Roger (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 1:24 USA 12 TALANSKY, Andrew (CANNONDALE DRAPAC) + 1:27 FRA 13 GALLOPIN, Tony (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 1:30 GBR 14 YATES, Simon (ORICA – SCOTT) IRL 15 ROCHE, Nicholas (BMC RACING) + 1:31 NOR 16 BOASSON HAGEN, Edvald (DIMENSION DATA) + 1:37 GER 17 BUCHMANN, Emanuel (BORA – HANSGROHE) IRL 18 MARTIN, Daniel (QUICK – STEP FLOORS) + 1:45
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