Rudy Molard takes over race lead as Simon Clarke wins stage 

Simon Clarke (EF Drapac) won a three man sprint from the front of the breakaway as Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) snatched the Red leaders jersey from Michal Kwiatkowski

Simon Clarke outsprinted breakaway companions Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) and Alessandro De Marchi (BMC).

Stage 5 was a 188.7 kms  route that included one third category and one of the second category climb 30 kms from the finish with a flat run in. 

25 riders managed to get away in the day's breakaway.

The group included Maxime Monfort (Lotto Soudal), Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ), Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis), Valerio Conti (UAE-Team Emirates), Floris de Tier (LottoNL-Jumbo), Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo), Mikel Iturria (Euskadi-Murias), Franco Pellizotti (Bahrain-Merida), Alexandre Geniez (AG2R La Mondiale), Davide Villela (Astana Pro Team), Sepp Kuss (LottoNL-Jumbo), , Jonathan Lastra (Caja Rujal-Seguros RGA), Andrey Amador (Movistar), Jai Hindley (Sunweb), José Mendes (Burgos-BH), Brent Bookwalter (BMC), Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data), Maurits Lammertink (Katusha-Alpecin), Pavel Kochetkov (Katusha) and Hermann Pernsteiner (Bahrain-Merida) and the three eventual stage leaders Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) and Simon Clarke (EF-Drapac)  join Alessandro De Marchi (BMC).

De Marchi (BMC) attacked from the breakaway and was joined by Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) and Simon Clarke (EF Education First). Behind them, Davide Villella (Astana), Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) and Floris De Tier (LottoNL-Jumbo) formed a group of chasers to try to catch the trio in front.

Despite having mechanical problems, Mollema managed to rejoin the men in front to face the last kilometres of the stage.

Sky took control of the peloton,  trying to defend the Red leader's jersey of Michal Kwiatkowski under threat from Molard in breakaway.

The three leaders arrived at the finish line and Simon Clarke showed he was the better sprinter by crossing the finish line ahead of Mollema and De Marchi.

Molard crossed the finish line eight seconds behind Clarke and took the overall lead from Kwiatkowski with just over a minutes lead.

“When you come three-up to a final, there’s always going to be cat and mouse,” said Simon Clarke. “Coming into the final 5km, I said to myself: 'I need to keep one in front and one behind.' That way I could keep an eye on both of them."

“Each time they attacked, it was really hard. It really hurt. It also gave me a lot of confidence that they felt like they needed to attack me and not come to the finish,” noted Clarke. “I didn’t think I was necessarily faster than De Marchi or Mollema because they’ve won big races in small group sprints. I wouldn’t necessarily have backed myself as the strongest guy because they’re such strong guys, but when they started attacking, it gave me confidence. Maybe they’re not feeling good for the sprint? I’m going to back myself for the sprint.”

“After I won my first stage in the Vuelta, I fell in love with the race,” said Clarke. “You fall in love with the races you can win in, and every year since I won my first stage, I’ve asked my teams if I can come back. Four times now I’ve done the Tour de France and every time I’ve come to the Vuelta after it. I don’t care how tired I am. I love the Vuelta."

“I’m so happy we were able to come away with the win,” said Clarke. “At the Tour, we had such a committed group, even throughout the whole year we’ve repeatedly shown a high level of commitment, and I don’t think our results have justified the quality of this team or how hard we’ve worked. I hope a stage win like this shows the effort, commitment and talent we have in this team.”

VIDEO: Stage 5 Highlights by GCN

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2018 La Vuelta Stage 5 Top 10

1 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 4:36:07 
2 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo   
3 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team   
4 Davide Villella (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:08 
5 Floris De Tier (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo   
6 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ   
7 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:58 
8 Jonathan Lastra Martinez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:02:00 
9 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida   
10 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data  

2018 La Vuelta GC after Stage 5

1 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 18:27:20 
2 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:01:01 
3 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:08 
4 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:11 
5 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:13 
6 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:26 
7 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:31 
8 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:34 
9 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team   
10 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:38