Volta a Catalunya stage 5: Axel Laurance wins uphill sprint in Viladecans

Axel Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck) sprinted to victory on stage 5 of the Volta a Catalunya, winning the throw to the line in a photo finish.

Stage 4 winner Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) took second with Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) in third after only centimetres split the top-three on the slight uphill drag in Viladecans.

Various riders tried to attack in the finale, but the peloton – mainly led by Israel-Premier Tech – shut them all down before the uphill kick to the line, which delivered Laurance to his his first WorldTour stage victory.

It took a long time for the day’s five-man break to get away, and once they did they weren’t away for long, with several teams eager to bring things back together for a sprint. Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) and Óscar Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) were the final survivors, caught over the top of the final climb.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) finished in the bunch to retain his overall lead.

“It’s really amazing. It’s my first year in the WorldTour team, so to be able to win a stage in a WorldTour race in my first year is really nice for sure,” Laurance said at the finish.

“I was in a really good shape when I came here, and obviously I’m still in good shape. I was focusing on the first stage and this stage in particular, yesterday it was not the plan to sprint for me, but unfortunately I had to do it, by myself.”

Breakaway chances denied by aggressive peloton

Stage 5 of the Volta a Catalunya was a tougher ask than stage 4’s sprint day, but a gentler profile than the back-to-back summit finishes earlier in the week. The 167km stage took in just two category 2 climbs, and a flat finish, lending itself to a few possible race situations.

With the chances of a breakaway success high, it was a tense start to the day with teams cagey about who they let up the road. Various riders tried in the first flat 50km, and there were a couple of short-lived splits, but all was together when the peloton hit the first climb, the Coll de Les Ventoses.

No attacks stuck on the categorised climb, but after the KoM point the road rose back up, and on this slope a group of five riders did get away, containing Óscar Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers), Jacopo Mosca (Lidl-Trek), Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ), Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) and Christopher Juul-Jensen (Jayco AlUla). These five went clear with 80km to go, and quickly built up a lead of a minute and a half, with the peloton happy with the composition of the break.

The situation remained stable on the long descent and flat after the climbing as the next climb of the day loomed. Cofidis and Alpecin-Deceuninck were working on the front, possibly interested in going for a spring at the finale, whilst UAE Team Emirates were fairly happy to let other teams do the work.

Thanks to the efforts of the sprint teams, they started to close down the gap on the climb. Steinhauser put in an attack on the lower slopes of the Alt de la Creu d'Aragall to distance all his breakaway companions except Rodríguez, as the peloton closed in, led by Israel-Premier Tech.

The leading pair pushed on for as long as possible, and crested the climb ahead of the peloton, but were caught by the bunch just over the top. With the break caught and 30km to go, the action heated up on the descent with riders trying to make a more selective finale. Israel managed to keep things together into the final 15km, but things continued to kick off towards the finale, with plenty of riders attacking and plenty others working hard to shut them down. Things settled in the final 10km, which allowed the sprinters who were dropped over the climb to rejoin the peloton.

It was a fast and frenetic final 5km with the pace relentlessly high and teams struggling to get truly organised, but the lead-out riders did make it to the front eventually, shutting down one last opportunistic move as the finish loomed. In the slightly uphill drag to the line, Laurance, Van den Berg and Coquard were all well matched, but it was Laurance who just edged it, throwing his bike to secure victory.

After all their work, Israel-Premier Tech settled for fifth through Tour Down Under winner Stevie Williams, whilst Tadej Pogačar finished in the bunch to stay in the lead of the race. He leads by over two minutes heading into the final weekend of racing.