Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) won the final stage of the Tour of the Alps, outsprinting Brent Bookwalter (BMC) and Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) in Trento.
Thomas had an answer for every attack on an exciting final day of racing, eventually crossing the line in third place in Trento to ensure he became the first Brit to win the race overall.
After Peter Kennaugh, Philip Deignan and Kenny Elissonde set a tempo on the front, the real action kicked off on the Monte Bondone. An early attack from second-placed Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) caused surprised and blew the group apart.
Thomas was able to calmly ride across the gap, before fending off a further two attacks from the Frenchman. Mikel Landa put in a mammoth ride to drag himself back to the group, setting a hard tempo and pacing an elite lead group down the final major descent.
Pinot launched one further acceleration on the day’s late final climb, and despite winning the sprint for stage victory he was unable to claw back enough time on Thomas. Seven seconds was the eventual winning margin.
?|@ThibautPinot @EquipeFDJ wins stage 5 of Tour of the Alps 2017 #TotA pic.twitter.com/kETBYZfcRx
— CyclingHub (@CyclingHubTV) 21 aprilie 2017
Tour of the Alps 2017 – stage 5 results (Smarano – Trento):
| 1 | Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) | 5:13:01 |
| 2 | Brent Bookwalter (BMC) | ,, |
| 3 | Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 4 | Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) | ,, |
| 5 | Mikel Landa (Team Sky) | +02” |
| 6 | Michele Scarponi (Astana) | ,, |
| 7 | Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 8 | Pierre Rolland (Cannondale-Drapac) | ,, |
| 9 | Egan Bernal (Androni-Sidermec) | ,, |
| 10 | Sergio Pardilla (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA) | ,, |
Final general classification:
| 1 | Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) | 20:49:37 |
| 2 | Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) | +07” |
| 3 | Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) | +20” |
| 4 | Michele Scarponi (Astana) | +27” |
| 5 | Mikel Landa (Team Sky) | +42” |
| 6 | Pierre Rolland (Cannondale-Drapac) | +52” |
| 7 | Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | +54” |
| 8 | Danilo Celano (Italy) | ,, |
| 9 | Egan Bernal (Androni-Sidermec) | +1’02” |
| 10 | Rodolfo Torres (Androni-Sidermec) | +1’16” |
