Alexey Tsatevich was one of the only two survivors from the early break in Catalunya today, beating Primoz Roglic to the line in a two-up sprint. In fact, most of the important action on this stage was to be found in the first ten kilometres, as the only change in the top ten happened at the intermediate sprint ten kilometres in. Always the best sprinter of the GC contenders, Daniel Martin had been working his way up to Richie Porte's time on GC in the intermediate sprints, and needed only one second to become level with Richie Porte, and move up onto the podium, thanks to his better stage finishing positions. One second he got, bringing him to within seventeen seconds of leader Nairo Quintana, and into third place.
Once the race got into Barcelona and began the eight finishing circuits, attacks flew, the most notable being a move from a group including Joaquím Rodríguez. However, the Spaniard and his group were caught by some late moves including one from Tejay van Garderen which was caught by Daniel Martin. Martin rode on the front for most of the final lap to protect his overall lead. This was all we saw, leading some to believe that the break had been caught, but the two survivors managed to get to the finish and sprint out the stage, with Tsatevich taking an easy win over the Slovenian climber.
Chris Froome also rode aggressively throughout the stage, making several unsuccessful moves after a disappointing race. Alberto Contador was more subdued than might have been expected, only making one proper move, which was easily shut down by Quintana.
Quintana stayed on the front with his team for the majority of the stage, to consolidate his lead that he had taken with his attack on stage four. Movistar did an excellent job of controlling the race since Quintana took the white jersey.
1. | RUS | Alexey Tsatevich | KAT | 3:13:33 |
2. | SVN | Primoz Roglic | TLJ | " |
3. | COL | Jarlinson Pantano | IAM | 0:14 |
4. | NED | Wout Poels | SKY | " |
5. | RSA | Daryl Impey | OGE | " |
6. | COL | Rigoberto Uran | CAN | " |
7. | FRA | Rudy Molard | COF | " |
8. | FRA | Romain Bardet | ALM | " |
9. | ITA | Enrico Gasparotto | WGG | " |
10. | ESP | Carlos Barbero | CJR | " |
1. | COL | Nairo Quintana | MOV | 30:50:19 |
2. | ESP | Alberto Contador | TNK | 00:00:07 |
3. | IRE | Daniel Martin | EQS | 00:00:17 |
4. | AUS | Richie Porte | BMC | " |
5. | USA | Tejay van Garderen | BMC | 00:00:27 |
6. | FRA | Romain Bardet | ALM | 00:00:31 |
7. | RUS | Ilnur Zakarin | KAT | 00:00:42 |
8. | GBR | Christopher Froome | SKY | 00:00:46 |
9. | GBR | Hugh Carthy | CJR | 00:01:01 |
10. | COL | Rigoberto Uran | CAN | 00:01:16 |