Joaquim Rodriguez came under attack in today's fifth stage of the Volta a Catalunya when Alberto Contador tried to take back the 4 seconds he needs to take the lead from the Katusha rider. Having managed to defend himself, he admits that he was in the red when he responded to the attack from the Tinkoff-Saxo captain.

Wider roads and sunshine were on tap for the peloton today in stage 5 of the 2014 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya with a final climb at 10 km to go providing the main action of the day on the long 218,2 km stage from Llanars Vall de Camprodon to Valls.

Race leader Joaquim Rodriguez’s closest rival at four seconds was Alberto Contador. He had one chance to gain time on the last climb and looked to shake things up on the general classification.

“We all knew that Contador was not content and that he would attack," Rodriguez said. "He had to. When he went on the Alt de Lilla with less than 10 km to go, I had to counter. It was hard. I was completely in the red, but I had it under control as the rest of the day everything had gone fine. He could not attack unexpectedly, because we anticipated his action.”

An original attack on the climb of Lilla came from Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin Sharp) and Astana’s Lieuwe Westra with Joaquim Rodriguez and other GC favorites keeping a close eye on the action.  Then came Tinkoff-Saxo’s Alberto Contador’s attack over the top, but “Purito” Rodriguez was quick to jump on the wheel and shut down the effort. With time bonuses on the finish line and only four seconds separating the duo, Katusha Team did all possible to control the attacks.  A last ditch effort by Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) on the fast descent was shut down with 5 km to go as the group made their way through the technical course.

Seventy to 80 riders came to the finish line for the sprint in Valls with Luka Mezgec (Giant-Shimano) taking his third stage win in this year’s edition after more than five hours of racing.  Joining him in the top three were Julian Alaphilippe (Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) and Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R La Mondiale). Joaquim Rodriguez kept his four-second lead over Contador with another three seconds in hand to BMC’s Tejay Van Garderen.

Rodriguez continued: “Now let’s hope we can keep the last two stages under control. Of course, I am a little bit worried about the time bonuses at the finish, but they are there and we need to live with them. It is part of the race.”

Saturday’s stage 6 begins in El Vendrell and ends in Vilanova I la Geltrú at 172 km and should be one for the sprinters. Sunday’s stage brings the race to a conclusion in Barcelona.  

You can read our preview of stage 6 here and follow our live coverage at 15.15 CET on CyclingQuotes.com/live