Valgren scores first win in five years as Del Toro roars into Tirreno-Adriatico lead

Michael Valgren (EF Education-EasyPost) claimed his first win in almost five years by soloing to victory from the break on stage 5 of Tirreno-Adriatico in Mombaroccio. After dropping his last breakaway companion Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) on the final climb, Valgren held off a fierce pursuit from Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) to claim the spoils.

Del Toro had the consolation of dislodging Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) from the race lead with his accelerations on the climb of Santuario Beato Sante in the finale.

Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) was the only rider able to follow Del Toro’s attack, and they came home 12 seconds down on Valgren.

Pellizzari lost ground on the final ascent, coming in 30 seconds down to hand the initiative to Del Toro, who is now 23 seconds clear overall. Jorgenson moves up to third overall at 34 seconds.

A stage amid the muri of the Marche has become a staple of the modern Tirreno-Adriatico, and there was plenty of competition for the early break when the race left Marotta-Mondolfo, with Mathieu van der Poel among the initial attackers.

His Alpecin-Premier Tech teammates Edward Planckaert and Emiel Verstrynge would make the break, alongside Valgren, Alaphilippe, Joan Bou (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Jack Haig (Ineos Grenadiers), Georg Zimmerman (Lotto-Intermarché) and Sjørd Bax (Pinarello Q36.5).

They had more than four minutes in hand by the time they hit Monte delle Cesane at the midpoint of the stage before Visma | Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates-XRG began to pare down that advantage on the approach to the finishing circuits around Mombaroccio.

The gap was at three minutes on the climb of Monte della Mattera with 45km to go, where the peloton was now being whittled down to size, with Filippo Ganna (Ineos) among those distanced. The intensity in the bunch rose still further after they passed the finish line in Mombaroccio for the first time with 43km to go.

Alaphilippe went on the offensive on the first climb to Santuario Beato Sante with 27km to go, stretching out the break with an acceleration. When Valgren responded with an effort of his own, Alaphilippe followed, and they danced clear of the break.

Valgren and Alaphilippe hit the finish line for the second time at 21km to go with 15 seconds on the rest of the break and two minutes on the UAE-led peloton, and they coped well with the initial steep kickers on the finishing circuit.

With 8km remaining, they still had 1:15 in hand on the reduced group of GC contenders, but Bahrain Victorious had now joined the pursuit, and the speed was ramping up ahead of the final ascent of the Santuario Beato Sante.

At the base of that climb, Valgren dropped Alaphilippe, and the Dane now faced into a demanding final 5.5km with more than a fighting chance of holding off the chasers.

Back in the peloton, Van der Poel was distanced at the same point, while Del Toro took over on the front when the climb bit. His initial surge reduced the group to just eight riders, while his effort sliced a sizeable chunk off Valgren’s advantage.

After a brief lull, Del Toro accelerated again with 4.4km to go, with Jorgenson the first to follow before others including Pellizzari, Primoz Roglic (Red Bull), Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) bridged across.

Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) then shot out of the GC group, seemingly forgetting that his teammate was out in front battling to fend off the chasers, but Ecuadorian’s cameo didn’t last long, with Del Toro again taking up the reins behind.

After bringing back Carapaz, Del Toro kicked again near the summit of Santuario Beato Sante with just over 2km to. Again, Jorgenson was the only man initially able to follow and this time Pellizzari had to relent.

The race lead was now Del Toro’s, but the Mexican was keen to pursue stage victory too, and he swooped down the other side with Jorgenson. They were unable to claw back Valgren, however, with the Dane dancing up the last 300m ramp to claim a long-awaited victory.