Following on from his second place on stage four of the Giro d’Italia, Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) has retaken the pink leader’s jersey as action resumed after the race transferred to Italy.
The Dutchman finished 5″ behind stage winner Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) to move back into the overall lead, with an advantage of 20″ over second-placed rider Bob Jungels (Etixx-Quick Step).
“I was feeling good at the start of the stage,” Dumoulin said afterwards. “We knew that the finale was hard but we weren’t sure if it was difficult enough to regain the pink jersey.
“We made a plan to pull on the 2nd category climb and we were able to decimate the bunch. From then on the race was completely uncontrollable but we had four guys in the top 10 so we had several cards to play with.
“On the final climb, Georg was really strong and could follow the late attack. Our aim was to play it smart and get in a good position, as there were not a lot of riders left in the bunch.
“It is fantastic to be back in the pink jersey, which is what we were aiming for at the start of today.
“Once again my main focus for this Giro is on the time trials. I didn’t have any specific general classification preparation in terms of an altitude training camp. So I don’t expect my level to be good enough to compete in the high mountains during the last week.”
