Tirreno-Adriatico (st. 5)

Spanish youngster from Movistar Team early into the action at Recanati's 'mini-classic', won by Jakob Fuglsang (AST); Mas, on the escape yesterday, goes down with no big consequences.

Loyal to their aim of remaining a significant factor in the 2019 Tirreno-Adriatico, the Movistar Team led on Italian soil by Chente García Acosta and Max Sciandri again got one of its riders into the break of stage five, a brutal 180km route with a final circuit Recanati featuring tough slopes up to 30%.

Spanish youngster Jorge Arcas went off the front with a 13-man early break, whose main elements were ultimately caught by the top GC contenders. The flurry of attacks inside the GC group led to a stunning solo victory by Jakob Fuglsang (AST), in front of racer leader Adam Yates (MTS) and Primoz Roglic (TJV).

While Arcas gave the Movistar Team reasons to feel happy about the day’s efforts, they left left quite sadder by a DNF from one of the Blues’ best pieces all over the 2019 season: Lluís Mas. A crash for the Mallorca native with just over 50km to go, against his left side and subsequent his head, made him feel dizziness incompatible with racing at high speed. The Spaniard will try to recover as soon as possible to resume his competition schedule.

The ‘Race of the Two Seas’ will host a ‘final rehearsal’ for the sprinters prior to Milano-Sanremo in Jesi (195km), preceeding the ITT showdown (10km) in San Benedetto del Tronto on Tuesday. Richard Carapaz, 22nd today and the closest of the Blues to the top finishers (3’20” behind Fuglsang), remains in 17th overall before that last test in 48 hours’ time.

Cover picture (c): BettiniPhoto.net / Movistar Team