More attacks pepper the stage but the sprinters win the day once more
Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) won the fifth stage of the Volta a Catalunya between El Vendrell and Tarragona in a bunch sprint. The punchy French sprinter beat José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar), condemning the Spanish sprinter to yet another second place, with Ruben Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) taking third after the peloton chased down a final kilometre attack from Jan Bakelants (OmegaPharma-Lotto).
At 205.8km, stage 5 was by far the longest of the race; despite this though, it began very fast, keeping the peloton together as it headed south along the Catalan coast.
The first hour of the race was conducted at an incredible 49.5kph, but it was just after this point that the first breakaway group managed to escape. Miguel Mínguez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Craig Lewis (HTC-Highroad) and Dario Cataldo (Quick Step) were the lucky ones but they were only able to pull 15 seconds clear before being swept up by the peloton.
Finally, after 79km Jelle Vanendert (OmegaPharma-Lotto) and Rémi Cusin (Cofidis) got away, and were quickly joined by Francesco Masciarelli (Astana) and Chris Froome (Team Sky).
As the four riders crossed the top of the 2nd category Alt de Fatxes, they led by 1’40” and their advantage continued to grow. After 106km the gap was up to 3 minutes, then after 122km it had risen to 4’20”. As the quartet crossed the Coll de Paumeres after 126km the lead was up to 5’10”, then at 139km it was 5’15”, but this was as good as it got.
Masciarelli was just 1’57” behind race leader Alberto Contador, and so his Saxo Bank-SunGard team moved to the front to protect its leader’s advantage. The gap began to fall steadily, and then even more quickly when Movistar moved forward to help; by the 25km to go mark it had fallen to just 1’20”.
Movistar was now in complete control of the peloton and allowed the four riders to dangle at the front of the race for the next 20km before finally swallowing them up with just 5km to go.
As the peloton approached the final kilometres into Tarragona, Bakelants took his chance. There was to be no luck for the Belgian though, and he was quickly reeled in by a determined peloton.
In the sprint Dumoulin proved to be the strongest, taking his third victory of the season, and condemned Rojas to yet another ‘almost’.
For the second day in a row, Contador finished safely in the peloton and so holds on to the white and green jersey for another day.