La Vuelta
Meeus takes second in a hard-earned sprint in Roquetes
Jordi Meeus sprints to second in Roquetes on Stage 5 of La Vuelta
La Vuelta reached Spanish soil for the first time on Stage 5, with 173 kilometres from Falset to Roquetes and a route that offered the fast men an opportunity, provided they could survive what came before it.
The wind kept the peloton on alert as the race hit the exposed roads along the Ebro, briefly splitting the bunch and helping bring the early breakaway back with around 100km still to race. From there, the road began to rise and the real selection came on the Alto de Paüls, the day's only categorised climb, which crested just 25km from the finish. The pace reduced the peloton and removed some of the expected sprint contenders from the equation. Jordi Meeus, however, was still there.
With the final attacks neutralised on the run towards Roquetes, the reduced bunch regrouped for a fast finish. Jordi positioned himself directly behind Brennan as the sprint opened, but was unable to overtake him in the final metres. Jordi crossed the line second to take Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe’s first podium of this year’s Vuelta.
Jordi Meeus wird Zweiter auf der 5. Etappe der Vuelta
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Primož Roglič completed the day safely in the main group and retains second place in the GC, 3:21 minutes behind race leader Pogačar.
The terrain changes again tomorrow. Stage 6 covers 178km from Alcossebre to Castelló, with four categorised climbs and the first-category Puerto El Bartolo, as well as a gravel sector.
I had to go super deep to survive the climbs, and afterwards I could feel I was missing that little bit of punch in the legs. I was actually in the perfect position on Brennan’s wheel, but he was just a bit faster. Still, I’m really happy to have been able to sprint here.
