Tour of Britain 2013 - Stage 5
The Tour of Britain continued today with stage 5, a 177 kilometre stage from Machynlleth to Caerphilly. The race was graced by rain once again; virtually the whole of the first half of the stage was affected. Today's stage was marked by the double ascent of Caerphilly Mountain, while it is no Alpe d'Huez, it would be enough to split the race, and it was Dan Martin and Nairo Quintana who were tipped as favourites for the day.
A breakaway formed, as is the formality in stage racing, and it contained riders who had animated the race already this year. King of the Mountains leader Angel Madrazo (Movistar) was present, along with Peter Williams (IG-Sigma Sport), Jacob Rathe (Garmin-Sharp) and Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani Valvole). They established a lead of around three minutes before Sir Bradley Wiggins' Sky team duly set the pace on the front of the peloton.
The break's lead remained steady throughout the majority of the stage, and it was Angel Madrazo who took maximum points at the top of both Cwm Owen and Brecon Beacons in an effort to close out the King of the Mountains contest. It wasn't until the race got closer to the foot of Caerphilly Mountain that the break's lead crumbled, mainly thanks to the efforts of Alex Dowsett (Movistar).
At the foot of the climb, Nairo Quintana jumped away from the peloton, effortlessly creating a 25 metre gap. Josh Edmondson was on the front for Sky, and immediately put the hammer down to try and reel in the Colombian. Francesco Bongiorno joined Quintana, however, while the move did succeed in shattering the peloton, Wiggins' team did manage to bring back the move.
David Le Lay (Sojasun) tried his luck on the descent, but he never got very far away from the peloton, with his maximum lead being around ten seconds. The second time the race hit the bottom of Caerphilly Mountain, it was Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) who put in a vicious attack over the top of Quintana's pacesetting. The Irishman's pain was visible in his expression, and it looked for a moment as though he could go on to the finish alone.
However, he was soon joined by Nairo Quintana, and soon afterwards by MTN-Qhubeka's main general classification hope, Sergio Pardilla. The trio looked set to contest the finish, but Ian Stannard was on the front for Sky Procycling, and with Wiggins in tow, he soon bridged the gap. David Le Lay tried another brief dig, but with one kilometre to go a group of around twenty riders were heading to the finish together.
IAM Cycling tried to set it up for Martin Elmiger, but over the top came Sam Bennett (An Post-Chain Reaction) to take a fine victory in Caerphilly. He was followed quickly over the line by the rest of the group, along with mesas Wiggins, Quintana and Martin. So, despite Dan Martin being many people's favourite for the stage, it was a different Irishman who stole the Caerphilly limelight.