February 3/23 11:10 am - Saudi Tour: Stage 5 and Final GC

Posted by Editoress on 02/3/23
 

The final stage of the Saudi Tour, as expected, came down to a bunched sprint. Simone Consonni (Cofidis) made the best of his punchy sprint to beat Matteo Malucelli (Bingoal WB) and Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates). The final general classification was won by, the winner of stage 4, Portugal’s Ruben Guerreiro who finished safely in the bunch.

Before the start of the fifth and final stage the top three of the general classification were all within ten seconds, Ruben Guerreiro (MOV) leading the way with a slim 8s advantage over Formolo (UAE) and 9s over Buitrago (TBV). Anything was possible, especially with a gravel section through Hegra during the day’s 143-km route where a punctures were an increased possibilty.

The Breakaway
For this final day of the event, the 102 remaining riders all set off together from the old town of AlUla. With still a lot at stake in all the standings, the battle was on to get into the day’s breakaway. Desal (BWB) was the first man to go clear of the pack at km 15. The Belgian was soon caught by five others: blue jersey Hansen (UXT), Malecki (Q36), Juaristi (EUS), Iacchi and Van Empel (both COR). At the first intermediate active sprint (km 21) Hansen took top points ahead of Juaristi and Malecki, the front six now had a 2:25 advantage.

Hansen Solidifies Hold on Blue Jersey
Eager to try and win a second stage on this Saudi Tour, team Jayco AlUla started in earnest to reduce the gap of the escapees. At the second Intermediate sprint (km 71) Hansen moved a step closer to the final blue (Most Active Rider) jersey by again taking maximum points ahead of Juaristi and Malecki. The peloton had reduced the gap to 1:50. With UAE team Emirates and Movistar assisting at the front of the chase, the gap continued to drop as the riders went through the gravel section. As the pack excited the gravel, Donovan (Q36) took off on a counter-attack. With 25kms to go, the front 6 had just 25s lead over the British rider and 55s over the peloton. Just before the bonus sprint, Donovan stopped his vain solo effort. That all important sprint (km 122) was to be claimed by Juaristi just ahead of Hansen, guaranteeing his hold on the blue jersey.

Third Pro Win for Consonni
With 15kms to go, the gap has dropped down to 35s. Seeing the peloton so close, Malecki gave it a final go on his own. He would be the last man standing of the breakaway but was caught with just under 2 kilometres to go. The pack remained bunched for the final uphill straight. On this punchy type finish, Simone Consonni (COF) had no difficulty claiming victory, beating Malucelli (BWB) and Ackermann (UAE). The Italian Olympic and World team pursuit champion took his third professional win, his first of 2023.

First Stage Win by Guerreiro
Finishing safely among the peloton in 16th position, Ruben Guerreiro (MOV) won the third edition of the Saudi Tour ahead of Davide Formolo (UAE) and Santiago Buitrago (TBV). The Portuguese conquers his first ever stage win. Thanks to his fourth position on the final stage, Dylan Groenewegen (JAY) wins the points classification (red jersey) while Buitrago finishes best young rider (white jersey) and UAE is crowned best team.

Pier Andre Cote (Human Powered Health) was again top Canadian, finishing 11th on the stage same time as the winner and 19th in the final overall at 1:43 back.



Results

Saudi Tour: Stage 1 results

Pier Andre Cote 9th Overall after Stage 2 of Saudi Tour

Pier Andre Cote 8th Overall after Stage 3 of Saudi Tour

Saudi Tour: Stage 4 results