Stage 5 of the Volta a Catalunya wasn’t listed as a mountain stage, but there was enough climbing over its 200km parcours to tire out the riders and show who still had the legs to take time in the GC standings. However, with the terrain almost tailor made for a breakaway win, there was a flurry of attacks from the very start of the stage, and in spite of some desperate attempts in the bunch to shut these down, the attacks and counter attacks wore the bunch down and it was a split in the peloton that led to the day’s break forming, with Ide Schelling playing an instrumental role in making it stick, teaming up to create a group of four that built a lead of 1:45, with a huge group of forty behind them, with Lennard Kämna and Ben Zwiehoff representing BORA-hansgrohe here. With 80km remaining, Ide’s group was joined by six others to form a group of ten, holding a slim lead over the chasers with the main peloton nearly four minutes behind before the chasers and the break regrouped with 45km to go and a solo rider attacked from the front here. With a first category climb separating this bunch from the finish, there was a dramatic slowing down after the incredibly fast speeds seen earlier in the stage. It was with 25km to go that Lennard bridged to the front with a few others, before going away on his own with 12km left, a brave move after his tremendous efforts yesterday. The German built a slim lead as the riders behind him struggled to work together to bring him back. On the flat with just a couple of kilometres left, Lennard went into time trial mode, taking the time to enjoy his incredible solo victory, punching the air in delight as he crossed the line 39 seconds ahead of his chasers.
Results
01 L. Kämna 4:29:13
02 R. Guerreiro +0:39
03 M. Bizkarra +0:42
From the Finish Line
“I’m very happy with this victory. Yesterday, I tried this already, but I went a little bit early. I didn’t have the best legs in the first part of the stage today and I just made it to the group. However, on the last climb I was feeling strong again, so I gave it another shot and I’m happy that in the end, it worked out. It’s a fabulous feeling – it’s my first race of the season and it’s great to be here in good shape and to take a victory. I had a really good feeling at the moment I attacked. Everyone was watching one another and they were a little annoyed that we weren’t working well, so it seemed the right time to try. There are a couple of stages still left, so we’ll always keep trying.” – Lennard Kämna
“Going into the stage this morning we knew that today’s breakaway had a chance in surviving all the way to the finish line, so we had planned to be there with two-three riders. It was a hard race right from the start and we saved Lennard for the final climb, which turned out to be a good decision. Once again, he let his racing instincts work, he tried two to three times to attack and made the right move at the right moment. We’re very happy with this victory. Lennard is a true fighter, the whole team worked very well and we can be very satisfied with the result.” – André Schulze – Sports Director
