Mathieu van der Poel attacks to win stage five at Tirreno-Adriatico

Tadej Pogacar extends his lead after he chases van Der Poel down on the climb to Castelfidardo in freezing wet conditions

The Dutchman soloed away from a select lead group 52 kilometres from the line into a sudden storm that whipped up high winds, rain, and plummeting temperatures and narrowly holding off a furious solo chase from race leader Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates).

Pogacar attacked 17 kilometres from the line up the final ascent of the 15 per cent slope of the Castelfidardo wall and went on to put in an incredible solo pursuit of the Dutch champion, slashing a three-minute gap that Van der Poel had built up with a long-range attack to just 10 seconds at the line.

Although Pogacar’s ride was formidable, he hadn’t set off in pursuit of Van der Poel, but his effort brought him within 10 seconds of the Dutchman after nearly closing the two-minute gap, eventually settling for second place as he put more than 40 seconds into Van Aert, now leading the Belgian in the overall by 1-15.

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VIDEO: Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 5 - Mathieu van der Poel attacks!

Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 5 Top 10

1 Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix 4:48:17
2 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 0:0:10
3 Wout Van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma 0:0:49
4 Fabio Felline (Ita) Astana-Premier Tech 0:01:26
5 Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:02:07
6 Davide Formolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
7 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:02:18
8 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) Israel Start-up Nation
9 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Bahrain Victorious 0:02:25
10 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:45

Tirreno-Adriatico GC after Stage 5 Top 10

1 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 22:41:41
2 Wout Van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma 0:01:15
3 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Bahrain Victorious 0:03:00
4 Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:03:30
5 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:54
6 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:04:30
7 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:04:42
8 Romain Bardet (Fra) Team DSM 0:05:03
9 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:54
10 Simon Yates (GBr) Team BikeExchange 0:06:58