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United States | Midwest | Ohio >> Vuelta a Espana 2016: Stage 5 – second win for Meersman, Atapuma stays in Red

Vuelta a Espana 2016: Stage 5 – second win for Meersman, Atapuma stays in Red

Gianni Meersman Etixx -Quickstep took his second sprint win at this year's Vuelta

Once the flag was dropped, Tiago Machado and Julien Morice got into a breakaway with a gap of up 6 minutes before it was slowly reeled in.

With 74 kms, and a 3 minutes lead, Machado went on his own and dropped Morice. The Portuguese Katusha rider pushed on to reach a new lead of over 5 minutes.

Machado took most KOM points at the Puerto de Marco de Alvare, while De Gendt sprinted for second place. The pace in the peloton went up and Meersman's team worked hard to bring back the break of the day. With 14 kms Machado was overwhelmed by the quicken pace of the Peloton getting ready for the Sprint.

Simon Clarke (Cannondale-Drapac) attacked the peloton with 2kms to go, hotly pursued by Philippe Gilbert (BMC). But both were hauled back with 1km to go. Gilbert led the peloton into the final 800m with 250m at a 6% gradient. Stybar went all out with Meersman on his wheel.

Meersman explained "The lead out from Stybar was incredible and when I saw the 200 metres to go sign I just went, because I knew if I didn’t start the sprint the others would come from behind. But no one passed me and I’m very happy."

Ominously for the other sprinters, when asked “How many more victories in the Vuelta?” Meersman said “We’ll see!” 

There were a few crashes with 3 kms to go, LottoNL-Jumbo's Steven Kruijswijk  was seen lying on the floor clutching his collar bone, he was taken to hospital. He's tweeted that's he's out of the race.

Results 5th stage Vuelta

1. Gianni Meersman (bel)
2. Fabio Felline (ita) s.t.
3. Kevin Reza (fra) s.t.
4. Luis Leon Sanchez (spa) s.t.
5. Zico Waeytens (bel) s.t.
6. Alejandro Valverde (spa) s.t.
7. Romain Hardy (fra) s.t.
8. Jean-Pier Drucker (lux) s.t.
9. Kenneth Vanbilsen (bel) s.t.
10. José Goncalves (por) s.t.

GC after 5th stage

1. Darwin Atapuma (col)
2. Alejandro Valverde (spa) + 0.28
3. Chris Froome (gbr) + 0.32
4. Esteban Chaves (col) + 0.38
5. Nairo Quintana (col) s.t.
6. Samuel Sánchez (spa) + 1.07
7. Ruben Fernandez (spa) + 1.10
8. Leopold König (cze) + 1.12
9. Peter Kennaugh (gbr) + 1.14
10. Gianluca Brambilla (ita) + 1.22

13. Alberto Contador (spa) + 1.52
16. Andrew Talansky (usa) + 2.13
27. Simon Yates (gbr) + 3.09
28. Louis Meintjes (rsa) + 3.10

Points leader: Gianni Meersman (Etixx-QuickStep)
King of the Mountains leader: Alexandre Geniez (FDJ)
Combined classification leader: Lillian Calmejane (Direct Energie)
Team classification leader: BMC
Stage’s Most Combative Tiago Machado (Katusha)

VIDEO: Vuelta 2016 Stage 5 Highlights

Vuelta a Espana 2016: Stage 5 – second win for Meersman, Atapuma stays in Red