John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) made it two in a row when he narrowly held off Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) and Moreno Hofland (FDJ) in a bunch sprint on stage 5 of the Vuelta a Espana. The sprint came at the end of a windy day where Tinkoff-Saxo attacked in the crosswinds which caused a time loss for Andrew Talansky and Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) while Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEDGE) retained the leader’s jersey despite finishing outside the top 10.

John Degenkolb has firmly established his position at the top of the Vuelta a Espana sprinting hierarchy by taking a second consecutive stage victory on a windy stage 5. Unlike yesterday, however, it was a close sprint as he narrowly held off a clearly disappointed Nacer Bouhanni to take the win while Moreno Hofland took his first podium spot in a grand tour stage by crossing the line in third.

Degenkolb had no easy ride to the finish though as the story of the day was Tinkoff-Saxo’s attack in the crosswinds that split the peloton to pieces. At a time when everybody were expecting an easy stage with just a single rider in the breakaway, the Russian team surprised most of the peloton with 35km to go when they suddenly launched a fierce acceleration.

The attack had a clear effect as the peloton exploded to pieces and when the dust had settled, several GC riders had been caught in the second group. Dan Martin (Garmin), Haimar Zubeldia (Trek), Warren Barguil (Giant-Shimano), Damiano Caruso (Cannondale), Johan Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEDGE), Sergio Pardilla (MTN), Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre-Merida) and Cadel Evans (BMC) were among the many riders that had been inattentive and they were caught in a second group.

Hard chase work by Garmin, Cannondale, Giant and MTN-Qhubeka made it possible for those riders to bridge the gap on the lower slopes of the only categorized climb and so they saved what could have been a disastrous day. Things didn’t work out as planned for the Garmin duo of Ryder Hesjedal and Andrew Talansky though as they were in a group even further back and never rejoined the peloton.

With the GC riders being extremely nervous due to the windy conditions, the sprinters got a free ride to the finish where they could battle it out for the stage win. However, it weren’t the usual sprint trains that dominated the finale as BMC took control to set up Philippe Gilbert for the win.

Manuel Quinziato and Danilo Wyss strung things out for the former world champion but they were passed by Koen De Kort who wanted to lead Degenkolb out. However, the German had lost the wheel of his lead-out man and instead Gilbert moved into second position.

Gilbert launched a long sprint but Degenkolb had now moved onto his wheel and he easily passed the fading Belgian. Sitting on the Giant rider’s wheel, Bouhanni tried to pass on the inside but there was not enough room and he crossed the line in second, clearly frustrated.

The commissaires decided that Degenkolb had not broken the rules and so the German was awarded the stage win. He also scored more points to take over the green jersey from Michael Matthews.

Matthews finished outside the top 10 in the sprint but defended his overall lead. Due to a split, he even extended his advantage over Nairo Quintana (Movistar) to 13 seconds. However, his time in the red jersey is set to come to an end in tomorrow’s first mountain stage. After a flat start, the riders tackle a long category 2 climb and a category ascent before they hit the short, very steep 5km climb to the finish in La Zubia.

One for the sprinters

After yesterday’s very hard stage, the Vuelta a Espana continued with a very similar stage which brought the riders over 180km from Priego de Cordoba to Ronda. The first part of the stage was almost completely flat but things got difficult in the finale when the peloton tackled the category 3 Puerto El Saltillo. From the top, only 15.2km remained and they were mainly flat.

All riders who finished yesterday’s stage took the start in Ronda and again it was a brutally hot day in Andalucia. Right from the start, Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Pim Ligthart (Lotto Belisol) attacked and they got a small gap.

MTN leads the chase

However, MTN-Qhubeka had missed the move and they gave chase behind the duo. When the gap had reached more than 3 minutes after 12km of racing, however, the South African team gave up.

That was the signal for FDJ and Giant-Shimano to kick into action and they started to reel the front duo in. After the first hour in which the riders had covered 37.9km, the advantage had already dropped to 1.40.

Martin drops back

Ligthart beat Martin in the first intermediate sprint while Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) took third by winning the peloton’s sprint. After the short action, FDJ and Giant-Shimano went back to work and after 75km of racing, they had brought the gap down to 1.30.

The pair kept the gap stable until the feed zone with 90km to go when Martin decided to drop back to the peloton. This caused the bunch to slow down and while Laurent Mangel (FDJ) and Tobias Ludvigsson (Giant) set a steady pace, the gap reached 2.45.

Froome takes bonus seconds

There was a very relaxed mood in the peloton while Mangel and Ludvigsson had a hard time not going too fast. With 52km to go, the gap was down to 1.05 but then they again slowed down to allow it to reach 1.45.

Ligthart won the final intermediate sprint while Sky made a smart move when Christian Knees attacked with Chris Froome on his wheel. The Brit scored two bonus seconds by taking second as Bouhanni and Murilo Fischer reacted too slowly for FDJ.

Tinkoff-Saxo attacks

The big teams had now started to position themselves near the front and with 39km to go, Tinkoff-Saxo made the unexpected move. Matteo Tosatto and Ivan Rovny did the early work and they got assistance from Michael Valgren and Daniele Bennati.

Behind, the peloton split to pieces and when Movistar realized that key contenders had been dropped, they joined Tinkoff-Saxo on the front. Andrey Amador contributed to the pace-setting while Johan Vansummeren dropped back to assist Garmin in the chase in the second group.

Ligthart is caught

The American team joined forces with Cannondale, MTN, Trek and Giant-Shimano and started to reduce their 30-second deficit. Meanwhile, Tinkoff and Movistar continued to ride hard on the front, with Gorka Izagirre and Chris Anker Sørensen now also contributing to the pace-setting.

With 32km to go, Ligthart was brought back and on the lower slopes on the climb, Caruso attacked and managed to bridge the gap to the first group. Moments later the best climbers in the second group also made the junction.

Txurruka wins the KOM sprint

Tinkoff and Movistar continued to set a hard pace while the sprinters were suffering at the back. However, they all made it to the top where the battle for the KOM points started when Amets Txurruka accelerated with KOM leader Lluis Mas on his wheel.

Sergio Pardilla (MTN) joined the pair and his acceleration left Mas behind. Txurruka beat Pardilla in the sprint while Mas had to settle for third.

After the top, Sky started to ride hard with Kanstantsin Siutsou, Peter Kennaugh and Vasil Kiryienka but soon after, Tinkoff-Saxo and Movistar rode up next to them. From there it was a drag race all the way to the final 2km when Sky again took over. Moments later, BMC launched their lead-out but it was all in vain as Degenkolb again emerged triumphant.