Agony, suffering until the last kilometer, but ultimately triumphant, epic and even historic. Marc Soler won the fifth stage of the Tour of Spain with an exhibition, brave attacking from afar, and broke a drought of 121 stages without Spanish victories in the big laps, since Ion Izagirre prevailed in the sixth section of the Spanish round of the Spanish round of the Spanish round of the 2020.
"All the teams have Spaniards, the problem is that we have to work for great leaders (...) Winning at home is especially exciting. From the car they encouraged me. I didn't believe it until the last roundabout with 500 meters to go. In the last 200 metres, I've already enjoyed it. Very happy", explained the man from Vilanova i la Geltrú.
The runner from the UAE attacked with just over a kilometer to crown the Alto del Vivero for the second time and went for the victory leaving Jake Stewart behind, his attack failing before the fifth and last ascent of the day. Soler began an adventure of 15 kilometers with a great cadence that allowed him to take almost 20 seconds ahead of the chasing group, which only reacted with the arrival behind Daryl Impey and the ambition of Fausto Masnada and Gregor Mühlberger.
The entrance to Bilbao prior to the finish line became a war of nerves, with Soler drawing strength from weakness, reducing his margin to six seconds, while from behind they doubted, looked at each other and finally gave up, watching the Catalan closely but already unattainable crossing the finish line Soler looked back to confirm his deed as he touched his helmet, incredulous, and sucking his thumb dedicated the moment to his son, a few months old.
Soler knew it was his day in the early stages of the stage, with good feelings and better legs since he decided to jump out of the peloton alone, with more than 90 kilometers to go, to join the numerous breakaway, which already had two minutes of margin. The Jumbo was at the head of the peloton to try to hunt down the escapees, but they waved the white flag soon, knowing that it was more worth conserving energy than saving Roglic's leadership, now in the hands of the Frenchman Rudy Molard the first position of the general.
Soler's effort to connect with the escapees did not take its toll later. He tested the energy of his fellow escapees with an unsuccessful change of pace with 46 kilometers to go and gathered strength when he saw the American Lawson Craddock go solo on the first visit to Alto del Vivero, 4.6 kilometers with medium ramps to 7.8%.
With the Biscayan port again on the horizon, he brought out all his artillery, first with an attack at the beginning of the ascent, with 25 kilometers to go, and the final one when hostilities broke out between the escapees, with fellow Catalan Roger Adrià and Fred Wright trying his luck.
The rest was a final for those who make fans, with a devoted public in his Big Week that pushed Soler to his second stage victory in the Vuelta after his triumph at Lekunberri in 2020. Just a few days later the worst streak began of Spanish cycling in the grand tours.
1. Marc Soler (ESP) UAE Team Emirates 4:15:23
2. Daryl Impey (RSA) Israel - Premier Tech 4
3. Fred Wright (GBR) Bahrain Victorious "
4. Rudy Molard (FRA) Groupama - FDJ "
5. Lawson Craddock (USA) Team BikeExchange - Jayco "
1. Rudy Molard (FRA) Groupama - FDJ 16:07:22
2. Fred Wright (GBR) Bahrain Victorious 2
3. Nikias Arndt (GER) Team DSM 1:09
4. Lawson Craddock (USA) Team BikeExchange - Jayco 2:27
5. Primož Roglic (SLO) Jumbo - Visma 4:09
