La Vuelta 2022 – Stage 05 [LAST 20 KM]

August 24, 2022

La Vuelta 2022 – Stage 5 – Irún – Bilbao : 187,2 km

As the final Grand Tour of the year, the Vuelta a España is seen by many as a last chance saloon for those riders who have failed to hit their seasonal objectives. In reality the race is much more than that, often surpassing the other two three-week races in terms of action and edge-of-your-seat entertainment. This is a race with the steepest summit finishes in professional cycling, the anything-can-happen transitional stages, the unlikeliest breakaway victories and the most fiercely fought GC battles seen anywhere on the racing calendar. While the last three editions of La Vuelta may have been dominated by a single rider, the racing is almost always dramatic and the battle for the red jersey regularly rages until the last few days of the race. The main reason for this is the race’s route, with its truly unpredictable parcours and its anything-can-happen transitional stages. The overall standings are ever-changing, largely due to the fact that the organisers throw in mountainous stages and steep summit finishes throughout the race, rather than solely in the final week.

Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) broke Spain’s two-year Grand Tour stage-winning duck in Bilbao, soloing away from the breakaway to claim victory on stage 5 of the Vuelta a España.

The 28-year-old was a latecomer to the breakaway, having bridged across mid-stage following a long battle for the move, and once again came from behind on the final climb of the day to attack the group before holding a small gap all the way to the finish.

Four seconds later, Daryl Impey (Israel-Premier Tech) and Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) rounded out the podium, the pair leading home the remains of the breakaway.

The day also saw a big move in the general classification as Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) ceded the red jersey to the breakaway just one day after taking it in Laguardia. Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) was the beneficiary as the break finished over five minutes up on the Jumbo-Visma-controlled peloton.

The Frenchman, who lay 58 seconds down on Roglič at the start of the day and four seconds up on Wright, now lies two seconds up on the Briton having scored those vital bonus seconds over the final climb of the day, the Alto del Vivero. It’s the second spell in red of his career, having held the jersey for four days in 2018.

The Vivero brought the race-winning move, with Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ) having attacked on the run-in to the tough hill. He carried a 35-second lead into the climb, but Soler, who at one point looked to be struggling off the back of the chase, recovered and attacked 2.5km from the top before passing Stewart and building his slim margin.

The 10-second gap held for much of the race down the other side, despite the chasers organising themselves and bulking up with the addition of more dropped riders. Despite looking certain to be brought back in the final kilometres, he managed to stick it out and claim the second Vuelta stage win of his career.

The red jersey changing hands would be the biggest news of the day, while the polka dot climber’s jersey also lies on new shoulders tonight.

After a day in the breakaway, Victor Langellotti (Burgos-BH) took over the lead of the mountain classification, having racked up 13 points over the day’s five classified climbs. Wright takes over the white jersey and Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) continues in the green jersey, while Groupama-FDJ move to the top of the team rankings.

How it unfolded
Stage 5 of the Vuelta a España brought the race’s second stage in the Basque Country as the riders took on a challenging 187.2km run from Irún to Bilbao.

It would be the toughest day of the race yet, with five classified climbs on the route. There were the third-category hills of the Puerto de Gontzagarigana, Balcón de Bizkaia and Alto de Morga, as well as two ascents of the second-category hill, the Alto del Vivero (4.6km at 7.9%), with the second topping out 14km from the finish.

With a possible breakaway stage win up for grabs – much like Philippe Gilbert and Igor Antón had done in Bilbao in the past – it was no surprise that there was an almighty battle to make the move early in the stage.

The opening 50km of the stage passed by in under an hour as groups repeatedly attempted to jump away at the front with little success. It would be another 20km before a move eventually stuck, with stage 4 breakaway man and three-time Vuelta stage winner Alessandro De Marchi (Israel-Premier Tech) out in the attack.

The Italian was joined by Jaakko Hänninen (AG2R Citroën), Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ), Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar), Fausto Masnada (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Lawson Craddock (BikeExchange-Jayco), Victor Langellotti (Burgos-BH), and Roger Adria (Kern Pharma).

Shortly afterwards more riders made it across, with Vadim Pronskiy (Astana Qazaqstan), Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ), Julius Johansen (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Nikias Arndt (Team DSM), and Anthony Delaplace (Arkéa-Samsic) bolstering the break.

More men – Jonathan Caicedo (EF Education-EasyPost), Daryl Impey (Israel-Premier Tech), Kamil Małecki (Lotto Soudal) and Ibai Azurmendi (Euskaltel-Euskadi) – joined in too, as the riders raced into the final 100km.

Hänninen wasn’t long for the move, crashing and dropping back to the peloton shortly afterwards, while Langellotti began his mountain points raid on the first climb of the day, beating Adria over the Gontzagarinaga and Balcón de Bizkaia.

The Monegasque rider took six points there to springboard himself into the virtual KOM classification lead, while Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) bridged across to the break on the second climb of the day.

At the top of the next hill – the Morga – it was Langellotti once again beating Adria for another three points, while the peloton lay at around five minutes down with Jumbo-Visma, Bora-Hansgrohe, and Ineos Grenadiers taking charge.

The first ascent of the steep, tough Vivero would be next on the menu, with the breakaway group hitting the bottom at 3:45 up on the peloton. Craddock struck out alone on the way up to grab five points, while Langellotti took his total to 12 after finishing second.

The 27-year-old was the first man across to Craddock on the way down the other side of the Vivero, and before long the break was all back together once more, though De Marchi, Caicedo, Małecki, Azurmendi, and Delaplace were dropped for good.

The road into Bilbao and through the finish line for the first time saw the group’s advantage grow back out over five minutes, all but assuring the break of a battle for the stage win. At 58 seconds down in the GC, Molard was firmly in the virtual red jersey and with a fighting chance of nabbing it at the finish with Wight his main competition four seconds back.

At 24km to go, Stewart made a solo move off the front, leaving Molard to hang back in the group and benefit from the work of others. After 5km on the attack, the Briton had 35 seconds in hand on the chase as he began the second and final ascent of the Vivero.

Further back, the chase group broke up on the hard gradients, with Soler and Impey among the first to go backwards. The Spaniard worked his way back, though, and even went on the attack 2km from the top of the climb.

Soler bridged across 800 metres later and, the superior climber that he is, dropped Stewart almost immediately as the remainder of the group – Langellotti, Molard, Pronskiy, and Wright – caught the 22-year-old shortly afterwards as Impey also came back.

By the time he reached the top, Soler’s advantage had grown to just over 10 seconds, while the peloton lay at 4:10 down. Langellotti grabbed another point to move to 13 over Adria’s six, and the group set about chasing Soler on the way down into Bilbao.

Soler hung out front with the same margin all the way into the city, with the break remaining around 10 seconds back until the riders hit the final kilometre. There, the chasers closed in, but it was too little, too late, as Soler held on to grab the sixth victory of his career.

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