Tirreno-Adriatico 2018, Yates wins stage 5 – Kwiatkowski leader

Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) wins solo Tirreno-Adriatico 2018 stage 5! The Brit wins the stage in memory of Michele Scarponi on the finish line set in Filottrano, Scarponi’s hometown, on the top of a short but demanding climb. Yates did the winning move with over 4 kilometers remaining along the steepest stage of Filottrano climb. Mitchelton-Scott rider gained ground over the group, which never seemed able to chase the twenty-five years old. Three times World Champion Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) got the second place whereas Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) finished in third: this result allows the Polish to wear the leader’s jersey. Milano SanRemo former winner now holds 3 seconds of advantage over Damiano Caruso.

Today stage is not just any day of racing. In fatcs, to the competition is added a special occurrence: the memory of Michele Scarponi. The finish is set in Filottrano: Scarponi’s hometown, where the Italian climber was raised and where, on tragic April 22 2017, he has lost his life. Lots of riders wants to succeed in winning at the start in order to be able to raise the hands and to lift the eyes to the sky, where the memory of Scarponi still lives. One of the men that opened an advantage over the group is actually Dario Cataldo (Astana), to whom Scarponi used to bond one of the most attached friendships throughout the last years of his career. Together with Cataldo Steve Morabito (Groupama-FDJ), Igor Boev (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Iljo Keisse (Quick Step Floors) and Kristian Koren (Bahrain-Merida) characterized today breakaway.

At the start the wheather was rainy and so have been the fist couple of hours since the race broke off. The peloton proved not to be interested in chasing immediately the leaders, so it let go and allowed the breakaway to open a significant gap, whose maximum width was recorded with over 133 kilometers remaining: 6’20”. Dario Cataldo this morning probably woke up with the aim of gaining all of the KOM points. In facts the Italian won Montelupone and Osimo KOM sprints. Morabito, instead, got all the intermediate sprints. As soon as the leaders lapped Osimo KOM, BMC fastened the pace and started to jump across the gap while Boev dropped the breakaway. In the meantime several problems occurred: Fabio Aru suffered twice of a puncture, Mark Renshaw crashed and was forced to abandon, Diego Ulissi stopped for a mechanical issue and Caleb Ewan pulled off. The Autralian ammitted he is feeling very weak recently.

Aru should have signed a deal with bad luck this morning. For the third time a puncture occurred to the Italian climber with 38 kilometers from home. Soon after, Rigoberto Uran and Vincenzo Nibali suffered of the same issue. When the leaders headed the first ascent to Filottrano the gap held on at 1’30”. Iljo Keisse dropped the wheels of his mates but along the descent reeled in the wheels of the other three leaders. If necessary, we report that Cataldo won also this KOM. Astana representative also won the second KOm sprint set on the top of Filottrano up-hill and, since the steepest stage of climbing, attacked and went solo. When Mitchelton-Scott moved up to the front of the group Cataldo’s hopes began to fade. Together with Movistar and at a later stage Lotto-Soudal started to set a devilish pace.

The group, in facts, reeled in the Italian with just over 11 kilometers remaining and headed with blistering speed the bottom of the last climb of today. Marczynski and Lutsenko move to the front and led the race: the Polish struggled for Benoot and the Kazakh attempted an attack for himself. Anyway, nobody could open a gap over the group until Adam Yates, with 4 kilometers to go, attacked decisively. The classic pedigree of the Brit is not a tough one but Mitchelton-Scott rider went away just like an expert classics-hunter. He immediately gained ground and his advantage held on at 18” with 2 kilometers from home. Lutsenko tried once more to attack but didn’t succeeded in break out. Yates in the front could taste the victory and covered solo the last kilometers of racing with the knowledge of having attempted a decisive try. Peter Sagan won the sprint of the group over Kwiatkowski who, thanks to the 4” bonus, gets the overall lead.

Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 5 Results

1 YATES Adam Mitchelton-Scott  4:16:35
2 SAGAN Peter BORA – hansgrohe  + 0:07
3 KWIATKOWSKI Michal Team Sky  ,,
4 BENOOT Tiesj Lotto Soudal  ,,
5 URAN Rigoberto Team EF Education First-Drapac  ,,
6 THOMAS Geraint Team Sky  ,,
7 LANDA Mikel Movistar Team  ,,
8 ROSON Jaime Movistar Team  ,,
9 BARDET Romain AG2R La Mondiale  ,,
10 CARUSO Damiano BMC Racing Team  ,,

Tirreno-Adriatico 2018 General Classification

1 KWIATKOWSKI Michal Team Sky 10 21:31:28
2 CARUSO Damiano BMC Racing Team + 0:03
3 LANDA Mikel Movistar Team + 0:23
4 THOMAS Geraint Team Sky + 0:29
5 URAN Rigoberto Team EF Education First-Drapac + 0:34
6 YATES Adam Mitchelton-Scott + 0:36
7 FORMOLO Davide BORA – hansgrohe + 0:37
8 BENOOT Tiesj Lotto Soudal + 0:39
9 BENNETT George Team LottoNL-Jumbo + 0:41
10 ROSON Jaime Movistar Team + 0:47