Tirreno-Adriatico 2014 - Stage 5

The fifth stage of the 2014 Tirreno-Adriatico saw the race's second summit finish in as many days. The stage was a 192 kilometre race from Amatrice to Guardiagrele. Despite the tough parcours a breakaway did try and get away, and soon gained a large lead. They would have their work cut out however to make it all the way to the finish in Guardiagrele.

Notable names in the breakaway include Adam Hansen (Lotto-Belisol), Ben King (Garmin-Sharp), David De La Cruz (NetApp-Endura) and Simon Geschke of Giant-Shimano. Once their lead reached over ten minutes, the team of race leader Michal Kwiatkowski Omega Pharma-Quickstep were obliged to do the chasing down of the move.

Alberto Contador looked dangerous, having already taken a victory the day before. The break started disintegrating as the stage moved on, and on the slopes of the Passo Lanciano, Contador put in his first attack, along with Tour de France runner-up Nairo Quintana. The attack didn't go anywhere, but it worked in thinning out the peloton. Kwiatkowski was still in contact.

Then, with thirty kilometres to go, Contador put in a massive attack. He wasn't followed, and was soon coming into contact with the remnants of the breakaway. He made it up to Adam Hansen, who was alone, but three men, David De La Cruz, Ben King and Simon Geschke were still over a minute ahead of the duo. Nairo Quintana had made a move from the peloton, and had joined with three other riders, including Jean-Christophe Peraud.

Kwiatkowski was clearly in trouble and was going backwards, whereas Contador and Hansen were in the valley between the two climbs, and were soon up along with De La Cruz, King and Geschke. De La Cruz quickly fell back, but King tried to move clear once the steep 30% sections kicked in. Contador put in another couple of moves though, and went on to win the stage solo.

Quintana finished around two minutes back, and now sat second on the general classification, two minutes and eight seconds down. In third after the stage was Contador's teammate Roman Kreuziger. Michal Kwiatkowski finished six whole minutes down on El Pistolero, and as a consequence dropped out of the top ten overall. Contador had just two days to defend his blue leader's jersey.