Tirreno-Adriatico: feat of van der Poel at the end of a lonely raid, Pogacar digs on van Aert during an epic stage (video)
Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) won the 5th stage of Tirreno-Adriatico (WorldTour), contested on Sunday over 205 km between Castellalto and Castelfidardo, in Italy. The Dutch champion won this hilly stage with 10 seconds ahead of the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), leader after his success in the 4th stage on Saturday. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) took 3rd place.
Mathieu van der Poel accelerated to 51 km from the finish and embarked on a solitary raid which he concluded victoriously for a handful of seconds. Behind, Pogacar has indeed reduced the gap to finish 10 seconds behind the Dutchman, who landed a second bouquet this week after his victory in the 3rd stage.
Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), who gave up the blue leader’s jersey to Pogacar on Saturday, finished 3rd at 49 seconds. Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) is 7th at 2:18.
Overall, Pogacar is 1:15 ahead of van Aert and 3 minutes over Spaniard Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious), 9th on Sunday.
After a 169 km plain stage between Castelraimondo and tLido di Fermo on Monday, the 56th edition of the Two Seas Race will end on Tuesday with a 10.1 km time trial in San Benedetto del Tronto on Tuesday.