page_title: 2015 Tirreno–Adriatico
section_title: Stage 5
hierarchical_section_title: 2015 Tirreno–Adriatico / Stages / Stage 5
caption_attribution_description: English: Tour of Britain 2013 stage 8
context_page_description: The 2015 Tirreno–Adriatico was the 50th edition of the Tirreno–Adriatico stage race. It took place from 11 to 17 March and was the third race of the 2015 UCI World Tour. The race is one of the most important races in the early part of the cycling season and is used by riders preparing both for the Grand Tours and for the classics season.
  The route of the 2015 edition started and finished with individual time trials, one of which was rescheduled from a team time trial shortly before the race began. In between, the race consisted of two stages suitable for sprinters, one for puncheurs and two for climbers. The key stage of the race was stage 5, which involved a summit finish on Monte Terminillo. The defending champion from the 2014 edition was Alberto Contador, who was expected to be challenged by three of the strongest stage racers in the world, Nairo Quintana, Vincenzo Nibali and Chris Froome. Froome, however, pulled out shortly before the race.
  The first individual time trial was won by Adriano Malori, who kept the lead for the first two stages. Greg Van Avermaet and Wout Poels won the next two stages, each taking the race lead for one day.
context_section_description: 15 March 2015 – Esanatoglia to Monte Terminillo, 199 km (123.7 mi)
  Stage 5 was the queen stage of the 2015 Tirreno−Adriatico and the only summit finish of the race. It took the riders on a 199-kilometre (123.7 mi) course from Esanatoglia. The peloton first travelled south, crossing three significant climbs in the first 72 kilometres (45 mi). The middle of the stage was flat, as the riders travelled southwest towards Terni, but the final part of the stage was difficult. The route first passed through Rieti, then turned east towards the summit finish at a ski station on Monte Terminillo. The final climb was 16.1 kilometres (10.0 mi) in length, with an average gradient of 7.3% and a total ascent of 1,175 metres (3,855 ft). The steepest sections were in the first part of the climb (one section had a gradient of 12%); the rest of the climb had a steady incline, except for the final few hundred metres of false flat. The stage took place in cold, difficult conditions with temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F). There were rumours before the stage that it would have to be cancelled, but these were refuted by the race organisers and the stage took place as planned.
  The day's main breakaway was formed early on by Maxime Monfort (Lotto–Soudal), Michele Scarponi, Andriy Hrivko (both Astana), Alessandro De Marchi (BMC Racing Team), Matteo Montaguti (AG2R La Mondiale), Paul Voss (Bora–Argon 18), Angel Vicioso (Team Katusha) and Jesus Herrada (Movistar Team). They built up a lead of over seven minutes after 60 kilometres (37 mi) of racing. Monteguti won both mountain sprints early in the stage, with Scarponi second on both occasions. After the two climbs, the main peloton made an effort to reduce the breakaway's lead and the gap was reduced to two minutes at the base of the final climb of the day.
  The breakaway disintegrated on the final climb, with Scarponi, De Marchi and Monfort forming a lead group. In the peloton, Vasil Kiryienka (Team Sky) and Ivan Basso (Tinkoff–Saxo) were setting the pace. Scarponi pulled clear of De Marchi and Monfort to lead the race solo, as Roman Kreuziger and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff–Saxo) briefly pulled clear of the main pack. As the riders entered the final 5 kilometres (3 mi), snow began to fall. As Contador drifted back in the pack, Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) attacked and immediately broke clear of the pack. Contador tried to respond but was unable to take Quintana's wheel. Contador ended up in a group of about 15 riders chasing Quintana. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) was dropped at this point, while Quintana quickly caught up to Scarponi.
  Contador twice made attacks on the chasing group, but on both occasions was unable to break free, although the race leader, Wout Poels (Team Sky) was dropped. Rigoberto Urán (Etixx–Quick-Step) also made an unsuccessful attack. Finally, Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing) put in a successful attack and dropped the group behind. Contador did most of the work in a group of five riders, including Urán, Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Adam Yates (Orica–GreenEDGE). The group did not keep up a steady pace, however, and Quintana was able to reach the finish line with a lead of 41 seconds over Mollema and 55 seconds over Contador's group. Quintana therefore moved into the lead of the overall classification, 39 seconds ahead of Mollema and over a minute ahead of Contador. Poels, meanwhile, finished 16th on the stage, 1' 37" behind Quintana, and dropped to tenth in the general classification.
  After the stage, several riders expressed displeasure with the extreme weather conditions. Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) was prominent among them, as he had been in a dispute over hot weather at the 2015 Tour of Oman, with Filippo Pozzato (Lampre–Merida) and Luca Paolini (Team Katusha) expressing similar concerns. The conditions were particularly difficult for the riders in the gruppetto, as the conditions they faced in the final kilometres were significantly worse than those faced by the race leaders. Cancellara and other riders called for an extreme-weather po
caption: Nairo Quintana (photographed in 2013), winner of stage 5
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