Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitons) won the fifth stage of the Vuelta a España between Guadix and Lorca in a bunch sprint. The American beat Koldo Fernandez (Euaskaltel-Euskadi) and Mark Cavendish into second and third at the end of the 198.8km stage.
After two tough uphill finishes, the fifth stage of the Vuelta a España was far more suited to the sprinters. The rolling roads as it crossed the inland sierras of the Grananda and Almeria provinces offered plenty of opportunities for breakaway specialists though.
“The wind made the sprint a little bit crazy,” said Farrar after his victory. “It was easy for riders to come from behind but I like this kind of very fast sprint.
“When Cavendish went on the right, I was able to take his wheel,” he explained. “Of course it’s always nice to win against the best sprinter in the world but it’s even better to win a stage at the Vuelta. I’m very happy.
“It was a little strange today because I was alone,” he continued. “Normally in a stage like this, we have riders working at the front but I was not confident after suffering during yesterday’s stage. Today I felt better and better. Only with 20km to go I told my teammates that I was up for the sprint. I didn’t have a real lead out man since Julian Dean is still injured. In the last ten kilometres, Matt Wilson did an absolutely fantastic job. When he took me where I had to be with 2km to go, it was just up to me after that.
“Winning always helps to build confidence,” he said. The World Championships in Australia is a huge objective but there are still a lot of sprints to come at the Vuelta. I’m already happy with one win. Any other one coming after today’s would be a bonus.”
After a minute’s silence in memory of two-time Tour de France winner Laurent Fignon, the peloton left Guadix in considerably lower temperatures than experienced in the preceding stages.
As soon as the peloton left the neutral zone, an attack came in from Arnaud Labbe (Cofidis) and Pierre Rolland (Bbox Bouyges Telecom). The two Frenchmen were joined by Jose Vicente Toribio (Andalucia-Cajasur) and David Gutierrez (Footon-Servetto), and the four riders had an advantage of more than a minute after just 3km.
After just 8km, the breakaway quartet’s lead was almost 4 minutes, so race leader Philippe Gilbert sent his OmegaPharma-Lotto team forward to keep the gap under control.
After 34km the advantage had increased to 6’16”, where it stabilised for some time between 5 and 6 minutes. As the riders passed through the feedzone after 108km, the lead fell to a little over 4 minutes, but within a few kilometres it rose back up to around 5 minutes once more.
With just over 60km to go, the FDJ team of stage 2 winner Yauheni Hutarovich came to the front to help bring back the break. The group’s advantage soon fell to 4 minutes and continued to come down as Lampre-Farnese Vini moved forward on behalf of Alessandro Petacchi.
With 50km to go, the lead had been cut to less than 3 minutes, and with 40km to go it had reduced to less than 2 minutes.
Not wanting to catch the break too soon and invite counterattacks, the Lampre-Farnese Vini team began to close the gap more slowly. The quartet’s advantage was still a minute by the time it reached the 20km to go point, but by now was obviously doomed to capture.
With just over 15km to go, the gap suddenly reduced to just a handful of seconds, and the previously cooperative breakaway riders began to attack one another; on his second attempt Rolland managed to get clear. The Frenchman was chased down by Toribio though, as the other two sat up and waited for the peloton.
On the completely flat roads to the finish though, there was no way the two riders could resist the peloton and they were caught with 14km to go, having been at the head of the race for 184km.
The Liquigas-Doimo team of Daniele Bennati was the one to now keep the pace high to prevent any further attacks. With 8km to go though, the HTC-Columbia team of Cavendish showed themselves for the first time; with 5km to go Allan Davis of Astana moved forward.
As the peloton entered the closing stages the Lampre-Farnese Vini, HTC-Columbia and FDJ teams were vying for control of the race.
With no one team able to take control of the sprint, the front of the peloton appeared disorganised; Cavendish found himself isolated in the middle of the peloton. Suddenly though, the Manx Express launched his sprint down the side of the road, but he had gone far too early and Farrar was able to pull him back and overtake.
Seeing he had been beaten Cavendish eased up slightly, allowing Fernandez to come past also.
With the vast majority of the peloton finishing together, race leader Philippe Gilbert lost no time to his rivals and so retains the red jersey.
Result stage 5
1. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Transitions
2. Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
3. Mark Cavendish (GBr) HTC-Columbia
4. Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick Step
5. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini
6. Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) FDJ
7. Robert Förster (Ger) Team Milram
8. Denis Galimzyaov (Rus) Team Katusha
9. Theo Bos (Ned) Cervélo TestTeam
10. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) OmegaPharma-Lotto
Standings after stage 5
1. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) OmegaPharma-Lotto
2. Igor Antón (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi @ 10s
3. Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha
4. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo @ 12s
5. Peter Velits (Svk) HTC-Columbia @ 16s
6. Tejay Van Garderen (USA) HTC-Columbia @ 29s
7. Xavier Tondo (Spa) Cervélo TestTeam @ 49s
8. Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank @ 50s
9. Ruben Plaza (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne @ 54s
10. Ezequiel Mosquera (Spa) Xacobeo-Galicia @ 55s