Nikias Arndt overcame brutal weather conditions to finish 14th on stage 5 of the Tour of Alberta. Lasse Norman Hansen won the stage, as the GC remained unchanged. Simon Geschke and Lars van der Haar dropped out of the race.

Arguably with the potential to be one of the most exciting – and certainly the longest – stage in the Tour of Alberta, stage 5 contained 206km course that features 18.6km of dirt roads over three sectors from Edson to Spruce Grove. On paper not the most difficult stage but due to the poor weather conditions it became an extremely tough challenge.

Six riders managed to break away early in the stage. The riders faced brutal conditions underway as the combination of rain, heavy crosswinds, dirt roads and 6Cº became too much for Simon Geschke and Lars van der Haar. They had to abandon the race.

In the meantime the bunch approached the escape group and Lasse-Norman Hansen (Team Cannondale – Garmin) tried to go for it solo. Both the remaining part of the breakaway and the bunch were send into the wrong direction while entering the local circuits and Hansen won the stage.  Because of this mistake the GC remained unchanged, so Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing) keeps his overall lead.