Vuelta a España stage 5: Marc Soler holds off chasers to win in Bilbao

Holding out for a solo win on a day where he had at times been under pressure in the day’s break, Marc Soler triumphed on stage 5 of the Vuelta a España into Bilbao.

The UAE Team Emirates rider was chased all the way to the line but held on to win by four seconds over Daryl Impey (Israel-Premier Tech), Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ), the American Lawson Craddock (BikeExchange-Jayco) and six others.

Soler did things the hard way, missing the initial 17-man breakaway and then bridging across alone. He was under pressure on the climbs but returned after the steep section on the final ascent of the Alto de Vivero, attacking the group and catching and passing lone leader Jake Stewart before the summit.

He then hammered it to the finish and despite the chasers getting very close, was able to hang on until the end.

“The truth is I’m very happy. I didn’t expect it, after yesterday,” he said. “In the end, I was able to make it happen and I’m very happy. I wanted to make the break, I fought a lot. The group went and I wasn’t there, but I wanted to.

“Matxin told me to try on the climb. In the finale, I wanted to try and I gave it my all. There’s a lot of talks [about the lack of Spanish victories in Grand Tours] but it’s not easy. There are many Spanish riders in many teams but we often have to work. It’s not easy but we can also win.”

Molard took fourth on the stage and replaced stage 4 winner Primož Roglič at the top of the general classification. He is now two seconds clear of Wright, with Nikias Arndt (Team DSM) third, 1:09 back.

Roglič finished as part of the main bunch 5:09 back and slips to fifth. However, he won’t panic, preferring to give away the jersey to a rider who was not a threat in the overall classification.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Chpclk2DS4A/

How it happened

Stage 5 of the Vuelta a España saw the race become incrementally more difficult, with the race from Irun to Bilbao containing five categorized climbs in all.

The first half of the 187.2km stage was flat to rolling, but things became more difficult after that. The climbs began with the third category ascents of the Puerto de Gontzagarigana (km 95.6), the Balcón de Bizkaia (km 102.4) and the Alto de Morga (km 125.4). These were followed by two ascents of the second category Alto de Vivero climb, at km 144 and again at km 173, the latter just 14km from the finish line.

There was one non-starter, with Dan Hoole (Trek-Segafredo) testing positive for COVID-19 and leaving the race.

There were a number of efforts to establish a breakaway, including early moves by best young rider Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers), a separate effort by Harry Sweeny (Lotto Soudal) plus two large groups. All were brought back, as was an effort by Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo).

A more successful move started 74 kilometers into the stage with nine riders going clear. They were soon joined by five others, and then a further three.

The 17 riders out front were Craddock, Wright, Impey, Molard, Stewart, Vadim Pronskiy (Astana Qazaqstan), Jonathan Caicedo (EF Education-EasyPost), Julius Johansen (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux), Alessandro De Marchi (Israel-Premier Tech), Kamil Malecki (Lotto Soudal), Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar Team), Fausto Masnada (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team), Nikias Arndt (Team DSM), Victor Langellotti (Burgos-BH), Roger Adria (Kern Pharma), Ibai Azurmendi (Euskaltel-Euskadi), and Anthony Delaplace (Arkea-Samsic).

They opened a gap of two minutes before the summit of the day’s first climb, the Puerto de Gontzagarigana, where Langellotti took the points ahead of Adria and Molard. Langellotti was also first to the top of the Balcón de Bizkaia and took over the lead of the king of the mountains competition. Soler bridged across to the group between the two summits.

The gap was up to 5:10 by the time the break headed up the Alto de Morga, with Langellotti again taking top points at the summit.

Jumbo-Visma and Bora-Hansgrohe were chasing behind and reduced the break’s advantage to 4:15 with 50 kilometers remaining.

Stewart, then Soler

The leaders moved on to the first ascent of the category 2 Alto del Vivero. Craddock surged clear 2km before the top and was chased by Langellotti, with the duo crossing the prime line in that order. They were reeled in by 10 others from the break on the descent, namely Impey, Molard, Stewart, Pronskiy, Soler, Adria, Muhlberger, Masnada, Arndt, and Wright.

Langellotti beat Soler and Masnada at the first crossing of the finish line in Bilbao, 39.2 kilometers from the end of the stage. The dozen leaders had an advantage of five minutes there, making it certain that one of the riders from the break would take the stage.

Stewart jumped clear with just over 23k to go, making a big bid for success. He rode powerfully heading onto the second ascent of the Alto del Vivero and had a 40-second advantage with 18km remaining. Adria attacked the group behind to try to bridge across but was dragged back.

Soler had been dropped earlier on the climb but got back to the others and then made a big effort heading into the final 17km. He caught Stewart with 1.2km to go until the summit and flew past, crossing the prime line slightly ahead of Langellotti, Wright, Molard, and Pronskiy, and 12 seconds clear of Stewart and Craddock.

Those chasers came back together before Stewart cracked with approximately 7.5km left, cramping up. Soler was riding impressively and had a 14-second lead there, but the riders behind had him in their sights and were getting closer. Others had got across to the chase group, with Muhlberger, Arndt, Adria, Impey, and Masnada joining Wright, Molard, Pronskiy, Craddock, and Langellotti.

That chase group started attacking each other, surging and stalling, and this gave Soler a chance. He was still clear going into the final kilometer and a stall with 500 meters to go sealed the chasers’ fate.

What’s next:

Stage 6 sees a first-ever appearance of the Ascensión al Pico Jano. San Miguel de Aguayo climb as a Vuelta stage finish and is the first high mountain day in this year’s race. It features three climbs – the second category Puerto de Alisas, the category one Collada de Brenes and then the big concluder, which is 12.6 km in length, averages 6.55 percent and has three stretches of 11 percent or over. It could and should blow the bunch apart and highlight who are the Vuelta contenders in form.