The sprinters’ plans were foiled on the lumpy roads to Sant Cugat del Valles.
On paper, stage 5 should have been one for the sprinters, but Deceuninck – Quick-Step were forced to stay out of contention after Alvaro Hodeg abandoned on the day’s second classified climb, Collet de Sant Agusti. The Colombian, a stage victor here last year, will now move his attention to next week’s Dwars door Vlaanderen, which he will race for the second straight season.
A four-man breakaway snapped the elastic some 30 kilometers into the stage, and despite establishing a maximum lead which didn’t go north of four minutes at any point during the 188.1km-long trek between Puigcerda and Sant Cugat del Valles, they eventually prevailed and Max Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe) took the win just a handful of seconds ahead of the peloton, which was slowed down by a crash inside the final kilometers,
Enric Mas remained the best-ranked Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider in the overall standings (16th) ahead of the weekend, which schedules two lumpy stages, ending in Vila-Seca and Barcelona, respectively, the latter after several laps of the Montjuic circuit, which more than four decades ago was used at the World Championships, when Felice Gimondi outsprinted Freddy Maertens and Luis Ocaña.
Photo credit: ©David Ramos/ Getty Images
