Catalunya stage 5: Schachmann wins solo; Lopez leads overall

After the GC stars took center stage on Thursday, Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) snuck away to win stage 5 on Friday at Volta a Catalunya in Spain.

Stage 2 victor Michael Matthews (Sunweb) led home the peloton for second place, merely 13 seconds behind the day’s German winner. Dimension Data’s Ryan Gibbons rounded out the podium in third.

Schachmann attacked a breakaway group of four riders, which included American Tejay van Garderen (EF Education First) to solo home to victory.

“As the group attacked [early] I joined them and with 20k to go, I thought, that we’ll have a good chance to make it to the finish,” said Schachmann. “On the descent, I attacked and just pulled to give it everything. I am so happy with the outcome and that I collected the points to now lead the points classification.”

After the four had been off the front all day in the race’s longest stage, Schachmann made his bid for solo glory with about 10 kilometers to go as Bahrain-Merida began chasing in earnest in the peloton.

At two kilometers to go, the solo leader had a tenuous advantage of 20 seconds, but it proved to be enough for him to win his second stage at Volta a Catalunya, following up his win in stage 6 of the 2018 edition of the race.

“I knew I am in a really good shape, therefore I wanted to achieve another stage victory at the Volta a Catalunya,” Schachmann said. “After a second [stage 1] and fourth place [stage 2], I knew I had to try it again because there are not so many stages left.”

Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) had a relatively easy day in the leader’s jersey, finishing 10th in the bunch. Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), who held second in the overall was right there with the Colombian, ensuring that the overall standings remained unchanged with two days of racing to go.

“Our main goal today was to look after Adam [Yates] and then if the sprint for the win was there it was a bonus. At the end, Schachmann put in a super ride and the best legs won,” said Mitchelton-Scott’s Daryl Impey. “We committed at the end because we saw there may be an opportunity for the stage but it wasn’t to be.”

Although stage 6 will serve up a lumpy profile with two categorized climbs, the 169km route trends downhill to the finish in Vila-seca, likely leading to another sprint finish.

Sunday’s stage 7 circuit around Barcelona could shake up the overall standings with a Cat. 3 climb on each of the seven laps.

“Tomorrow will be a little bit harder and more of an aggressive race I think,” said Julian Dean, Mitchelton-Scott’s sport director. “Today was also a bit harder than we predicted and there’s certainly signs of fatigue showing in the peloton. It doesn’t look too hard on paper tomorrow but I think it will be when it comes down to it.”