Nairo Quintana blew apart the Tirreno-Adriatico overall classification as he claimed the first victory of his 2015 with one of his best performances since he jumped into the WorldTour with the Movistar Team. The Colombian climber is the new leader of the Italian race after a splendid performance on the Terminillo, only mountain-top finish of the 'Corsa dei Due Mari', after a long, 194km stage five in cold, rainy, even snowy conditions in the finale, all the way from the start in Esanatoglia, in the heart of the Appennines.

Jesús Herrada entered the early break of the day to release the Movistar Team from any responsibility in the chase and add calmness to a group which protected Quintana perfectly: firstly with Malori and Ventoso on the flats, then over the climbs with Moreno, Amador, Castroviejo and a remarkable Giovanni Visconti.

The Italian went after the first moves in the favourites' group, 7 km from the finish, and anticipated the move by Quintana, with 4.8km remaining. A double acceleration by the Colombian, initially to open a gap then to avoid any counter attacks, launched him into a prodigious cavalcade, opening gaps meter by meter to amass a 41-second over Bauke Mollema (TFR), his nearest rival; fifty-five seoncds over the main group including Rodríguez, Urán and Contador; and a minute and a half over former race leader Wout Poels (SKY).

It's Quintana's 23rd victory on the pro scene, 23 years after Lucho Herrera's victory atop Terminillo in the 1992 Giro d'Italia, and the ninth this season for the Movistar Team, which will take their hearts out to defend his Maglia Azzurra tomorrow in the long (210km), yet gentle stage six from Rieti to Porto Sant'Elpidio. Quintana's gap is presumably strong enough to keep him into a confident defense on Tuesday, into the TT showdown (10km) in San Benedetto: 39" to Mollema; 48" over Urán; 1'03" to Contador.

"I'm really happy," Quintana said. Claiming my first win of the season and doing it that way made me feel over the moon - that's why I celebrated like that. It was a very fast stage, difficult to handle, especially with the cold conditions, but thanks to my team, who supported me all the way, always helping out, I could reach the final climb with the energy I needed and take my tactics to fruition with that final attack. I want to thank them immensely for their support and dedicate this victory to them, as well as my family, for all the joy they bring to me.

"There was a moment, with 5k to go, when I saw myself feeling especially well, looked around and couldn't see anyone looking strong enough to follow me. I jumped away on those two occassions, I saw no one could follow me and kept pushing until the very end. There's still one long road stage on our way - let's hope we don't come across any difficulties there, so we can fight on the TT to defend this jersey.

“I knew it was going to be very cold on the final climb. I was psychologically ready. The team has taken great care of me these days. I saved energy all day and they delivered me to the final climb. Sky pulled for a bit, then Tinkoff - Saxo. Then Etixx took over. I saw some tension in the group around me. I looked around, not at [Contador] in particular, and I saw people were looking at each other as if they were thinking about attacking. Yesterday, when we were looking at each other, the Sky rider [Wouter Poels] took advantage. Today, the pace dropped and I decided to give it a go.

“I trained hard in Colombia. In the first days [of this race], I suffered because of my lack of race rhythm, but now I feel good. I had a hard end to last season because of my fall in the Vuelta, when I fractured my shoulder. It took a long time to recover and there is still some pain. Then, I fell in the Colombian national championship [on 8 February] meaning that I couldn’t compete in Andalucia. But thanks to the support of my family, I came through it, got back into shape, and arrived here for my first race in Europe, where I was quickly up to speed.

“In Colombia, I live at an altitude of nearly 3000m. Some mornings it is very cold, 4 or 5 degrees, and it can go down to zero. At altitude, it’s a different cold, but then, racing in Europe, we get used to even more extreme conditions. It is not the first time I’ve won in the cold. There was the Giro d’Italia last year, and at Vallter 2000 in the Volta a Catalunya [2013] the conditions were the same as this. I don’t know if I’m the strongest in extreme conditions. [Vincenzo] Nibali and Alberto [Contador] have both won in the heat and in the cold. In the end, when you are a leader, you have to have a strong head and legs, whatever the weather."