It had been almost six Grand Tours of racing to the stage since Ion Izagirre claimed a Spanish win on Stage 6 of the 2020 Vuelta a España, but Marc Soler broke that stage-winning drought in Bilbao, as he soloed away from the day’s breakaway to claim victory on stage 5 of La Vuelta
The 28-year-old was the last man to join the breakaway, bridging over from the peloton after it had been a tough battle to form the initial move. He then attacked on the final climb of the day, and then managed to hold a very small gap to the chasing riders from the breakaway all the way to the finish.
"This victory came after a very hard year and injuries, so to be able to win today was very special,” Soler said after the finish. “I knew I wouldn’t have much chance in a sprint because I’d be tired from how I’d worked to stay away, and in the last four kilometres, I thought it was going to be touch and go.
“But in the last 300 metres, I could look round and see what the gap was, and actually enjoy the final few moments.”
Soler has been a high-profile victim of crashes and illness during Grand Tours in recent years, with his involvement in the ‘Allez Opi, Omi’ sign-wielding Tour de France crash leaving him with fractures in both of his arms.
“I’m pleased above all that after so much that didn’t work out and all the suffering I’ve been through and my family’s been through, this has all paid off,” Soler told journalists. “Above all, it’s for those reasons.”
Soler’s former companions finished four seconds behind, with Daryl Impey (Israel-Premier Tech) second and Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) rounding out the podium, but the other big benefactor from the day’s racing was Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ), who moved into the overall race lead.
Previous red jersey holder Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) ceded the red jersey to the Frenchman, rolling in with the peloton over five minutes down as it seemed that Jumbo-Visma were happy to give up the responsibility for chasing with a number of tough stages coming up.
Molard was 58 seconds down on Roglič at the start of the day, and now lies two seconds up on Wright as his nearest rival after a tight tussle that was as much a plot point in the final kilometres as the fight for the stage win. It's the second spell in the red jersey of his career, having held the jersey for four days in 2018.
Victor Langellotti (Burgos-BH) was another who took over the custodianship of a jersey, in his case the polka dots of the mountain classification, having racked up 13 points over the day's five classified climbs. Wright moved over the white jersey, while Sam Bennett (BORA-Hansgrohe) was the only rider to maintain their lead in classification from the previous stage as he’ll start tomorrow in the green jersey.
La Vuelta continues with the first big summit finish of the race as the top climbers tackle the Pico Jano. Watch from 10:55pm AEST on SBS and SBS On Demand for all the action.
