For the second day in a row, Primoz Roglic once again raised his arms in Tirreno-Adriatico. The Slovenian returned to competition in the Italian event after a six-month absence after his hard fall last September in La Vuelta and, despite the fact that the Giro d’Italia is his main objective in the medium term, The one with the Jumbo continues to refine in the best way: competing and winning. The one in Tortoreto on Thursday was a Roglic brand victory, with that rush almost insurmountable finish, while this Friday, in Sassotetto, He had no choice but to rivet. The wind also marked the race, as in Paris-Nice (the day’s stage was cancelled).
Initially it was going to reach the top, but due to the wind the final 2.5 km were climbed. In total, there was an ascent of 10.7 km at 7.3% on average, and everything was marred by the wind. Lateral and facing on some occasions, it made it very difficult for any attempt at the port to succeed. For this reason, the outcome was the one that under normal conditions would not have been seen: a sprint between the favourites, and there Roglic is lethal. In addition, he becomes the leader of the race with the two days of the weekend remaining, especially complicated on Saturday, because Sunday’s is for sprinters. Actually, it is not possible to know exactly how Roglic is doing compared to other climbers, because it is being a strange race, but what is ruled out is that it is wrong.
The escape, of seven riders who later became six, came to an end with 30 km to go… and on the approach to the port an ambitious Movistar was seen, taking the lead of the group in favor of the interests of Enric Mas, and the Spaniard responded. He tried. First it was Caruso, with 4.5 km to go, the one who jumped, and managed to open a lead of more than twenty seconds. Behind, a very large group with the wind as the protagonist. In the final stretch it was Enric Mas who stirred everything up, they reached the Italian wheel and the one from Movistar asked a Ciccone for relief He did not accept the proposal.
Then, everything was heading to a sprint on a summit, something unusual, and Kelderman hardened the arrival in favor of his teammate Roglic, who despite being during the climb without looking at the front, had no choice but to finish off. He didn’t raise his arms at the finish line, as if he was just another day at the office (his 67th win). This Saturday, a broken day, with four climbs, including the finish in Osimo after 193 km on a day that aspires to be key for the general classification.
Classification of the fifth stage
1st Primoz Roglic (ESL/Jumbo) 4h 38:04
2nd Giulio Ciccone (ITA/Trek) mt
3rd Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBR/Ineos) mt
7th Mikel Landa (Bahrain) mt
General
1st Primoz Roglic (ESL/Jumbo) 20h 17:14
2nd Lennard Kämna (ALE/Bora) to 4
3rd Joao Almeida (POR/UAE) 12
10th Enric Mas (Movistar) 31