Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team rider Michal Kwiatkowski knew he was in for a dog fight in the 192km Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 5 on Sunday.
The race exploded on Passo Lanciano, as Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo), who trailed Kwiatkowski by just 16" overall going into the stage, decided he would chase down four leaders ahead. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) went along to also try and put time on the Polish Champion. Quintana couldn't hang on, so Contador went alone to try and bridge.
Kwiatkowski, meanwhile, found himself in a difficult moment on the climb. Contador bridged to Adam Hansen (Lotto-Belisol), who had lost contact with David De La Cruz (NetApp-Endura), Benjamin King (Garmin Sharp), and Simon Geschke (Giant Shimano) Quintana and several other riders formed a chase group behind Contador, while Rigoberto Uran Uran and Wout Poels of OPQS stayed with Kwiatkowski to help him try and chase back on the descent.
Contador and Hansen were able to cut a gap of about a minute and catch the leaders before the brutal final kilometers that included Muro di Guardiagrele (22.2% average gradient, 30% max ramp). De La Cruz lost contact, and Contador dragged back King while zig zagging, and then dropped everyone, on the steepest section of 30 percent. Geschke nearly rejoined Contador, but he accelerated once again as the gradient eased before a hairpin turn to go on to win the stage and take the Maglia Azzurra. Geschke was 2nd, King 3rd.
"Alberto and Nairo really went hard," Kwiatkowski said. "I just exploded in one moment. I couldn't go, even at my own speed. Passo Lanciano was very hard for me. Then on the descent I couldn't even concentrate. It was difficult to try to chase back. Rigoberto Uran and Wout Poels stayed with me, but I was just finished. I couldn't go anymore. I was really motivated to defend the jersey, but fighting against Alberto and Nairo isn't easy. What can I say? I did my best. Every day I am gaining experience. It's not the best day for me, but not the last race in my career. We still have two stages to go and we will try do something in the next days. I want to thank my teammates for the support they gave me in the last days. It means a lot to me."