Vlasov holds off Powless to win Tour de Suisse stage 5

Image 1 of 16 Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) wins stage 5 (Image credit: Getty ) Image 1 of 16 Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) wins stage 5 (Image credit: Getty ) Image 1 of 16 Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the leader’s jersey, masks back on after multiple COVID-19 cases (Image credit: Getty ) Image 1 of 16 Alexander Kamp and Silvan Dillier on the attack (Image credit: Getty Images Sport ) Image 1 of 16 Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Fenix) on the attack (Image credit: Getty Images Sport ) Image 1 of 16 Five rider early break with Johan Jacobs (Movistar), Alexander Kamp (Trek-Segafredo), Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Fenix), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and Claudio Imhof (Switzerland) on stage 5 at Tour de Suisse (Image credit: Getty Images ) Image 1 of 16 Five rider early break with Johan Jacobs (Movistar), Alexander Kamp (Trek-Segafredo), Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Fenix), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and Claudio Imhof (Switzerland) on stage 5 at Tour de Suisse (Image credit: Getty Images ) Image 1 of 16 Five rider early break with Johan Jacobs (Movistar), Alexander Kamp (Trek-Segafredo), Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Fenix), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and Claudio Imhof (Switzerland) on stage 5 at Tour de Suisse (Image credit: Getty Images ) Image 1 of 16 Thomas Scully of New Zealand and Team EF Education-Easypost (Image credit: Getty Images ) Image 1 of 16 Alexey Lutsenko of Kazahkstan and Team Astana Qazaqstan (Image credit: Getty Images ) Image 1 of 16 Diego Ulissi of Italy and UAE Team Emirates (Image credit: Getty Images ) Image 1 of 16 Michael Matthews of Australia and Team BikeExchange-Jayco (Image credit: Getty Images ) Image 1 of 16 A general view of the peloton competing during on stage 5 at the Tour de Suisse 2022 (Image credit: Getty Images ) Image 1 of 16 A general view of the peloton competing during on stage 5 at the Tour de Suisse 2022 (Image credit: Getty Images ) Image 1 of 16 Quinn Simmons of United States and Team Trek-Segafredo (Image credit: Getty Images ) Image 1 of 16 A general view of the peloton competing during on stage 5 at the Tour de Suisse 2022 (Image credit: Getty Images ) Image 1 of 16 Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) claimed victory on stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse, taking the overall lead of the race. The Russian sprinted from a select group of four riders that emerged on the hilly circuit around Novazzano, beating Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) to the line as Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-Premier Tech) claimed the final spot on the podium. Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) trailed across the line in fourth place, while the final member of the quartet, Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), who teed up the sprint for Vlasov, finished in a small group of riders who finished several seconds down.

With overnight leader Stevie Williams (Bahrain Victorious) dropped early in the stage, Vlasov moved into the yellow jersey thanks to bonus seconds. The biggest development from a general classification perspective was Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) falling out of contention. The Belgian was dropped briefly on an uncategorised climb with 20km to go and then fell away for good on the final climb of Pedrinate, going on to lose more than two minutes.

The 190. 1km stage from Ambri to Novazzano featured three laps of a punchy 33km finishing circuit based on the Pedrinate climb, which measured 2. 4km at 8.

2%. The terrain was bound to blow open the peloton but that job had already partly been done by the time the riders arrived on the start line. No fewer than 17 riders failed to report for the sign-on, with a COVID-19 outbreak taking out Ineos leader Adam Yates, three riders from DSM, and the entire Jumbo-Visma squad.

A sizeable bunch hit the final climb of Pedrinate with 10km to go, but there were only 15 riders left over the top as Israel-Premier Tech lit it up and Fuglsang attacked near the top. Thomas and Tom Pidcock were straight on it for Ineos but Dani Martínez was dropped again and leadership appeared to pass definitively over to Thomas. A lull after the descent allowed more riders back in but Fuglsang soon launched another attack and got away, while Vlasov, Thomas and Powless emerged as a chasing trio, with Schachmann chasing further back.

As the road kicked up again with 2km to go, Vlasov accelerated to make contact with Fuglsang and Thomas clawed his way back on. Another lull allowed Powless and Schachmann in, and they rode to the finish as a quartet. Schachmann hit the front and led through the final bend before opening the taps with 300 metres to go.

Fuglsang then hit the front but Vlasov eased past him and, despite being pushed all the way by Powless, had enough to hold on for the stage win and the yellow jersey. In the overall standings, Vlasov leads with Fuglsang second at six seconds and Thomas in third a second further back. Andreas Kron (Lotto Soudal), Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) and Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) are all within 16 seconds, before a bigger gap to Powless in seventh at 28 seconds.

Felix Großschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe), Sebastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ), and Andreas Leknessund (DSM) round out the top 10 as the only riders within a minute of Vlasov, while Evenepoel drops to 19th at 2:22. Results powered by FirstCycling (opens in new tab).