Pavel Sivakov (Team Sky) claimed his maiden stage race win in the Tour of the Alps as Fausto Masnada (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) took stage 5 win after threatening Sivakov’s GC lead.
The 21-year-old maintained the 27-second advantage he held over second-placed team-mate Tao Geoghegan Hart going into the fifth and final stage.
Sivakov became the first Russian to win the race and denied Vincenzo Nibali a third title.
“This victory is our victory not only me, we have been really consistent all week with Tao winning two stages and today we managed the race perfectly,” Sivakov said.
Fausto Masnada won the final day of racing, crossing the line seven seconds ahead of Carlos Quintero in constant drizzle leading into Bolzano.
Sivakov finished along with Geoghegan Hart and Nibali 2:14 behind Masnada.
Six-time Grand Tour winner Chris Froome ended his week in the mountains almost five minutes behind his youthful team-mate as he looks to step up his preparations for this year’s Tour de France which starts in Brussels on June 6.
It was Sky’s final multi-stage race before changing its name to Team Ineos after reclusive chemicals tycoon Jim Ratcliffe bought the outfit.
'It's been a changing of the guard'
Fausto Masnada secures a second stage win of the week while @PavelSivakov wraps up the #TotA race GC win! pic.twitter.com/K4vcBS49S9
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) April 26, 2019
Tour of the Alps 2019 – stage 5 results (Caldaro – Bolzano):
| 1 | Fausto Masnada (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) | 4:02:06 |
| 2 | Carlos Quintero (Manzana Postobon) | +07” |
| 3 | Simone Velasco (Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM) | +01’31” |
| 4 | Dario Cataldo (Astana) | ,, |
| 5 | Roland Thalmann (Vorarlberg Santic) | +01’33” |
| 6 | Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R La Mondiale) | +02’14” |
| 7 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 8 | Mattia Cattaneo (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) | ,, |
| 9 | Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 10 | Pavel Sivakov (Team Sky) | ,, |
Tour of the Alps 2019 – final general classification:
| 1 | Pavel Sivakov (Team Sky) | 18:58:00 |
| 2 | Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Sky) | +27” |
| 3 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) | +33” |
| 4 | Mattia Cattaneo (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) | +01’03” |
| 5 | Fausto Masnada (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) | +01’13” |
| 6 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | +01’46” |
| 7 | Jan Hirt (Astana) | +02’03” |
| 8 | Dario Cataldo (Astana) | +02’58” |
| 9 | Roland Thalmann (Vorarlberg Santic) | +03’14” |
| 10 | Aleksandr Vlasov (Gazprom–Rusvelo) | +04’27” |
