1'05" after the arrival of the stage winner Nairo Quintana on the Terminillo, a blue-fuchsia-green jersey came out of the snow that was falling on the road. It was Przemyslaw Niemiec, who finished 9th on the 5th stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico (196,9 km from Esanatoglia to the summit arrival of Terminillo) at 1'05" to Quintana, obtaining a ticket to the club of the best climbers in the race.

On the final climb, 16,1 km at 7,3% of average gradient, the Polish rider could stay with the top riders and only in the final sprint lost some meters that caused him to reach the finish line with a 10" delay from the group of the chasers. Niemiec exploited the precious support that Serpa gave him on the final climb and the work by Grmay in the approach to the climb.

The Polish rider is 13th in the overall classification, at 1'23" to Quintana and at 10" to the 10th place of Poels.

"The performance of Serpa and Niemiec deserve to be complimented because our two riders raced very well and the results obtained are comparable to the best climbers in the peloton, said sports director Orlando Maini. "Our race plan included a presence in the break but unfortunately we were not able to be part of the action of eight riders who attacked on the first climb after about 30km.

"We worked well in the approach to the climb. Niemiec then did a good test, but he will have to work hard in the time trial on Tuesday to try to get into the top ten of the general classification.

"Niemiec was impressive today and he could battle against the best climbers of the group in a stage whose course was demanding and that became even tougher because due to the bad weather in the final kilometres. Despite the efforts and the good 9th place in the stage standing, Niemiec could not enter in the top ten of the overall classification: only a great performance in Tuesday time trial will grant him to enter in the top ten".