Cyclingflash
Michael Valgren wins entertaining Tirreno-Adriatico stage again, Del Toro cracks leader Pellizzari

Michael Valgren wins entertaining Tirreno-Adriatico stage again, Del Toro cracks leader Pellizzari

Michael Valgren once again won an entertaining stage in Tirreno-Adriatico on Friday. From the early breakaway, the Dane struck in Mombaroccio. Among the GC contenders, we saw Isaac Del Toro retake the leader's jersey from Giulio Pellizzari, impressively breaking away with Matteo Jorgenson.

On day five, the cream was expected to separate from the crop in Tirreno-Adriatico. At least, that was the expectation beforehand. The stage through Marche was a kind of Italian mini-Liège-Bastogne-Liège, featuring no less than 3,900 meters of climbing and countless steep ascents.

In the finale, two local circuits of 21.6 kilometers had to be completed, featuring one critical section: the climb to the sanctuary of Beato Sante (4.2 km at 6.2%). On the slopes of this climb (with pitches up to 9%), everything had to happen on Friday, knowing that the summit was situated just two kilometers from the finish line.

In the opening phase of the stage, it was immediately clear that many riders saw chances to win the stage from the early breakaway. That was no strange thought, given all the climbs along the way. Ultimately, it was Sjoerd Bax, Georg Zimmermann, Julian Alaphilippe, Emiel Verstrynge, Jack Haig, Edward Planckaert, and Joan Bou who managed to escape the peloton and ride a few minutes ahead together.

Valgren and Alaphilippe the strongest in breakaway
On the first ascent of Beato Sante, the breakaway—which still held more than two and a half minutes on the peloton—began to split. Valgren was the first to dare testing the rest of the break and immediately succeeded in breaking away with Alaphilippe. Behind them, a group quickly formed with Verstrynge, Haig, and Zimmermann, but they would no longer see the front of the race.

Valgren and Alaphilippe kept pushing stubbornly meanwhile. In the peloton, where much had already been suffered and we also saw Thymen Arensman launch an attack, the favorites still faced a gap of over a minute and a half with ten kilometers to go. Would they arrive too late?

Valgren holds firm, favorites launch attacks on each other
On the last climb of Beato Sante, Valgren soon dropped his breakaway companion, going solo in the final six kilometers in pursuit of the stage win. However, the favorites were not idle on Beato Sante either: right at the foot, UAE Emirates XRG declared war by sending Jan Christen on the attack. Del Toro tried soon after but couldn’t shake off the favorites. Only near the summit did he manage to break away definitively—bringing Mexican Matteo Jorgenson with him.

Pellizzari seriously cracked behind them. His two-second lead in the general classification was quickly overturned into a deficit of more than twenty seconds. The Italian would have to concede the leader’s jersey back to Del Toro in Mombaroccio. One advantage for Pellizzari: Valgren held strong on Friday, so the ten bonus seconds at the finish were already neutralized.