Vingegaard storms to Stage 5 victory at Tirreno-Adriatico, Froome withdraws

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) produced a dominant display to win Stage 5 of Tirreno-Adriatico as he took the overall lead.

Spain’s Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) emerged victorious from a six-strong battle behind to take second spot and bonus seconds, ahead of Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe), but the day was all about two-time Tour de France champion Vingegaard.

Vingegaard takes the leader’s jersey from Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), who was always expected to relinquish control when the race headed uphill, and is 54 seconds clear of second-placed Ayuso.

Meanwhile, Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech) was forced to abandon the race before Stage 5 began due to a fractured wrist sustained in a crash on Stage 2.

The 38-year-old wrote on X: “Confirmed last night that I fractured my scaphoid on Stage 2 so I won’t continue today.

“Heading home for surgery. I can’t catch a break.”

Vingegaard was the overwhelming favourite heading into the seven-stage race in Italy – and after the opening stages were dominated by the sprinters, the Dane finally took control as the peloton travelled from Torricella Sicura to Valle Castellana.

With 28km of the 144km stage to go, Vingegaard went on the attack on ascent of the San Giacomo ahead of Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R) and Hindley to create a healthy lead before crossing the summit.

On the descent, Vingegaard pulled further ahead to create a big gap ahead of the chasing pack.

After successfully seeing off a shallow ascent with 8km left, Vingegaard built a gap of over a minute heading into the final 4km and comfortably held off the pursuers to land an impressive win.

Stream Tirreno-Adriatico and Paris-Nice live on Eurosport and discovery+

‘I’d really like to get back there’ – Froome hopes to get to Tour in ‘best shape possible’

Chris Froome has outlined his ambition to return to the Tour de France after missing out on a spot at the race last season.

The 38-year-old has been striving to rediscover his best form after working his way back from a serious crash at the Criterium du Dauphine in 2019.

His appearance at Tirreno-Adriatico this week is the first time he has ridden on the WorldTour this year.

“First of all, get to the Tour after having missed out last year. I’d really like to get back there again this year.”

Froome dominated the Tour de France when he was at Team Sky (now Ineos Grenadiers), winning four times between 2013 and 2017.

He also came second in 2012 and third in 2018.

Last year was only the second time in his career that Froome hasn’t competed at any of the three Grand Tours.

He says he is hoping for a “steady build” towards an 11th appearance at the Tour this summer.

“Looking forward to getting some WorldTour racing in the legs,” he added.

“This is the first WorldTour event I’m doing this year after Rwanda and some time at altitude as well.

“So just looking forward to getting back into it again and continuing a steady build towards the Tour.

“It basically comes down to team selection, and I imagine looking at the stage races building up to the Tour will be part of that. So this is this is where it starts.”

picture

Chris Froome is a four-time Tour de France winner

Image credit: Getty Images

Froome joined Israel-Premier Tech on a five-year deal in 2021.

“I signed a five-year contract when I joined,” said Froome.

“I still feel like there’s more in the legs and I want to go out having given it my all. I’m not going to give up on it. I’ve had much worse said about me.

“If I can get back to the Tour de France and be there when the race gets selective, when there are fewer guys left on the climbs, whether it’s fighting for a stage win again or even trying to ride whatever position on GC again – to me, just to be back in the race, when the race gets selective, that for me would be the dream.”