Simon Yates attacks to take stage and Tirreno-Adriatico lead

Yates dropped everyone on the mountain finish atop Sarnano-Sassotetto as Canadian Michael Woods loses race lead

Simon Yates took the Queen stage and the leaders jersey at the Tirreno-Adriatico, finishing on the Sarnano-Sassotetto ahead of Geraint Thomas and Rafal Majka.

Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) went solo with around 4km to go and left the other general classification riders battling.

Behind and in-form Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana) proved to be the best of the rest.

Canadian Michael Woods (EF Pro Cycling) was dropped and finished in 11th, 1m 46s behinf, losing his race lead and falling down the general classification to 8th place.

Woods had a bad day but the race isn't over yet with three stage to go, the last beng an individual time trial on Monday.

2018 Vuelta a España winner, Simon Yates is aiming to win the Giro d'Italia this October, and so to is Geraint Thomas who's riding himself into form.

How it Happened

Aftre the day's brakaway was caught, it all came down to the final climb up to Sarnano-Sassotetto

Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo) kicked with 6km to go as he tested himself on the climb but he didn’t stay clear for long as Oscar Rodriguez (Astana) brought him back.

Stage four’s stage winner, Lucas Hamilton (Mitchelton-Scott) and Nibali lost touch as Jakob Fuglsang attacked, forcing EF Pro Cycling to work, against brought back quickly with 5km to go.

An upping in pace by Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) isolated Michael Woods (EF Pro Cycling) as Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) made a move, with Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) and Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) following.

Vlasov and Majka bridged up to Masnada and Brambilla as Yates pushed clear and went on solo on the steepest gradients.

VIDEO: 2020 Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 5 Highlights

2020 Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 5 Top 10

1. Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, in 5-30-43
2. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, at 35s
3. Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe), at same time
4. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana, at 39s
5. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Sunweb, at 54s
6. James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck – Quick-Step, at 58s
7. Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck – Quick-Step, at 1-00
8. Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb, at 1-05
9. Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, at 1-11
10. Louis Meintjes (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling, at 1-46

2020 Tirreno-Adriatico 2020 GC after Stage 5

1. Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, in 23-36-59
2. Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 16s
3. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, at 39s
4. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana, 49s
5. Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck – Quick-Step, at 54s
6. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb, at 1-00
7. James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck – Quick-Step, at 1-21
8. Michael Woods (Can) EF Pro Cycling, at 1-22
9. Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, at 2-28
10. Jack Haig (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott, at 2-44