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2016 Vuelta a España Stage 5: Meersman doubles up in Lugo

Belgian avoids two crashes in last three kilometres

Gianni Meersman
August 24, 2016
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Gianni Meersman
Gianni Meersman of Etixx-QuickStep wins Stage 5 of the 2016 Vuelta a España. The stage victory is his second of the Spanish Grand Tour. Photo: Unipublic/Graham Watson

Belgian Gianni Meersman of Etixx-QuickStep made it two wins in six 2016 Vuelta a España stages Wednesday, as he emerged victorious from a crash-marred bunch sprint in Lugo. Meersman also triumphed in the first road stage on Sunday. Darwin Atapuma (Colombia/BMC) retained the red jersey.


It was a rainy start to the day for the peloton, and it had only a Cat. 3 climb to face on the way to Lugo.


Immediately Julien Morice (France/Direct Energie) and Tiago Machado (Portugal/Katusha) roared away from the others. The intrepid duo had a maximum 6:30 gap over the BMC-led peloton. Machado shed his partner with 75-km remaining.


Machado made it up and over the Cat. 3 Marco de Álvare solo. Back in the peloton, the sprinters’ teams, such as Trek-Segafredo, Giant-Alpecin and Etixx-QuickStep, started drive the bus. The rain stopped and the riders peeled off a layer.

Machado had only 1:30 with 30-km to go. His adventure came to an end with 14-km remaining. The teams of the GC men mobbed the front to protect their riders and the pace was very high.

Even though the profile made it look like a straightforward sprint, there was a kilometre with 3-km to go that was 4% and then a steep 100-metre ramp before 2-km of mostly flat but technical road to the line. Here, a puncheur could get away.

This is precisely what Simon Clarke (Australia/Cannondale-Drapac) did, followed by Philippe Gilbert (Belgium/BMC), the two scampering away without a concerted chase from the field. But the sheer speed of the peloton swept them up before the red kite.

There was a split in the bunch after a crash and Meersman took a fine lead out from Zdenek Stybar to grab his second win.

Steven Kruijswijk (The Netherlands/LottoNL-Jumbo) was caught up in the crash at the 3-km to go mark and had to retire with a broken collarbone.

There are plenty of lumps to negotiate on Stage 6, with an uncategorized climb close to the finish in Luintra.

Canadian Ryan Anderson is continuing to persevere in his first Grand Tour. “I am taking it day by day right now. I hit the deck pretty hard on Stage 2. Still, I think I have some chances in this race, too. It’s a little early to tell, and yet still a long way to go,” said the Direct Energie rider.

2016 Vuelta a España Stage 5
1) Gianni Meersman (Belgium/Etixx-QuickStep) 4:16:42
2) Fabio Felline (Italy/Trek-Segafredo) s.t.
3) Kévin Réza (France/FDJ) s.t.
117) Ryan Anderson (Canada/Direct Energie) +3:54
180) Svein Tuft (Canada/Orica-BikeExchange) +4:35

2016 Vuelta a España GC
1) Darwin Atapuma (Colombia/BMC)
2) Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Movistar) +0:29
3) Chris Froome (Great Britian/Sky) +0:33
145) Ryan Anderson (Canada/Direct Energie) +33:26
185) Svein Tuft (Canada/Orica-BikeExchange) +40:50

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