Steven Kruijswijk lost time on several overall riders in today’s fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia, but nonetheless the Dutch Team LottoNL-Jumbo captain moved up in the general classification. He climbed from 36th to 31st.
 
The fifth stage started in La Spezia. Early on in the race, some riders managed to separate themselves from the pack. Lampre-Merida’s Jan Polanc was part of the attackers and reached the finish line on top of the 17-kilometre Abetone climb (average gradient 5.4%) first.
 
Fabio Aru (Astana), Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) and Richie Porte (Sky) attacked each other on the climb and split the peloton into pieces. Aru defeated his rivals in the sprint to line and finished third, at 1’31” from Polanc. The Italian finished right behind Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) who had been in the break all day.
 
Kruijswijk arrived at the line one minute and 20 seconds behind the group with Contador, who took over the pink jersey.
 
“It was quite hard to turn the knob after yesterday, as it was a bad day. I lost eight minutes, because the peloton in front of me split at a bad moment. I gave all I had to re-connect and still suffered from those efforts,” Kruijswijk said.
 
“I tried to bring back that good feeling today. I was able to hold on for a reasonable time, but eventually I was dropped because of yesterday’s hard work.”
 
Kruijswijk remains ambitious. “I want to keep going and see how far I can get. I want to improve and to show myself with an attack in the difficult days, as my legs are fine. A long flight could also be beneficial for my overall.”
 
Chances for Hofland
Sports Director Frans Maassen sees opportunities for Moreno Hofland on Thursday. The youngster already sprinted to a second place in the second stage on Sunday.
 
“Normally, tomorrow will be a day for the sprinters. Halfway, we face some proper climbs, but I expect the fast men to survive. It’s going to be a challenge to get Moreno in a good spot for the sprint as we miss Robert Wagner. Moreno’s second place was good for his confidence, though.”