As a specialist on the steepest slopes, Daniel Moreno was one of the favourites to win yesterday's brutal Tirreno-Adriatico stage but when it all was settled on the steep Muro Guardiagrele, it was another Katusha rider that came to the fore. Among the race favourites, Giampaolo Caruso was only beaten by Alberto Contador and Jean-Christophe Peraud and he is now hopeful that he can finish in the top 10.

In a fierce display of cycling at its best, the world’s best climbers went to battle on Sunday’s stage 5 in Tirreno-Adriatico. Giampolo Caruso used his legs to climb into the top ten.

“I have felt my condition improving for some time now and the team had confidence in me," he said. "Of course I was there in the front group to support Dani Moreno, but in the end you try to go for a good result for yourself as well. When Contador caught us and attacked, there was nothing we could do any more, but I am satisfied. I am ready for the upcoming jobs when I will support Purito Rodriguez. I feel good and now I still hope to do a good time trial and finish the Tirreno with a top ten result overall.” 

Casuso took a fine sixth place at 1:39 on the climbing stage and moved into ninth place overall, just two places behind teammate Daniel Moreno in 7th.

“It was a really hard day, but we had a nice plan for Dani and also a bit for Giampaolo," Team director José Azevedo added. "That’s why we sent one riders in the early break, when Luca Paolini did a very good job. So we had one extra Katusha rider in the front in the finale. An impressive Contador ruined our plans with his unexpected early attack but I am very happy with today’s performance from the Katusha riders. Contador was outstanding but we were good overall and now we have two riders in the top ten.”

Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) attacked on the second-to-last climb of the 192km stage, taking the race in hand to chase down the remains of the break and control the race from the front.  Methodically bridging across the gaps and picking off riders one-by-one, Contador hit the bottom of the final climb, the Muro di Guardiagrele, at 3 km to go with almost two minutes in hand to Caruso’s chasing group. With an average gradient of 25% and some sections reaching 30%, the climb was a difficult test for everyone.

Finally, Contador made it look rather easy as he accelerated away from Simon Geschke (Giant-Shimano) to take the win. Ben King (Garmin-Sharp) held on for third place.

Contador’s win gave him the race lead by more than two minutes to Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff-Saxo Bank). Katusha Team captain Daniel Moreno is 7th in the overall classification, while Giampaolo Caruso is 9th.

Luca Paolini was part of an original 8-man group that included podium finishers King and Geschke.  The group worked well over the first climbs, but the group fell apart before the last two pitches. Once Contador attacked from the main group and rode across the gap, it was all anyone could do to hold the wheel of the Spaniard.

Two stages remain in the 2014 Tirreno-Adriatico. Monday brings a possible sprint stage at 189 km from Bucchianico to Porto Sant’Elpidio and Tuesday’s final stage is a short 9,1 km individual time trial in San Benedetto del Tronto.

You can read our preview of stage 6 here.