Uno-X Mobility rider Fredrik Dversnes pulled off a hard-fought, touch and go victory on Tirreno Adriatico stage five, hanging on by the skin of his teeth against an elite band of pursuers.
The Norwegian rider proved the strongest of the day's early break, on what was another 200km-plus day, this time from Ascoli Piceno to Pergola.
There were multiple attacks and attempts to pull him back on the final climb of the Monterolo, by riders including Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5).
Although the small chasing bunch came within a few seconds of him, they were unable to make the final catch.
"I got the word from my sports directeur to go all-in," Dversnes explained afterwards. When asked whether "never look back" was the golden rule, he said: "Well, never give up, for sure.
"I had two pretty hard days and cold days so with this weather today it turned out to be a pretty good day," he added.
"On the final climb I got the word from my sports directeur to go all in, and luckily it turned out to be good enough."
With a tough climb going into the final kilometre, Dversnes said it was only with 500 metres to ride that he knew he had the stage in the bag.
"For me it means everything," he said. "It's the biggest win of my career so far, and to be able to take the top step in a WorldTour race is a dream come true, no doubts about that."
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) led in the bunch sprint seven seconds behind, with Roger Adrià (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) third.
Race leader Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) retained his leader's jersey, despite having to stop and wait for a replacement bike with only 200m to go, having mangled his mech after losing his chain a short while earlier.
How it happened
After two hard days of rain, the peloton will have applauded today's clement skies as they rolled out of Ascoli Piceno, bound for Pergola, 205km distant.
Right from the official start the familiar face of Dries De Bondt (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), who has already been plenty active this week, burst forth out of the peloton. He took six riders with him, creating what would a breakaway that lasted, in one form or another, all the way to the chequered flag.
Together Francisco Muñoz (Polti-VisitMalta), Gal Glivar (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane), Paul Ourselin (Cofidis), Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Dversnes and De Bondt steadily managed to build out a solid gap that had become six-and-a-half minutes by the day's halfway point.
It was a status quo that endured for a while, but in what was a hilly second half – including three categorised climbs – the gap began to inevitably come down.
As well as that gap, both break and bunch began to lose numbers as the terrain took its toll. By the time the race reached the lower slopes of the key final climb of the Monterolo – a name that rings familiar but is no relation to the monstrous Mortirolo – an elite bunch of around 35 riders were chasing what was now a five-man break with a precarious one-minute lead.
With Dversnes going "all-in" as his sports directeur suggested, he had managed to shed all his companions by the top of the climb.
However, the chasing bunch was being powered by a combination of efforts from riders including Pidcock, Ganna, Van der Poel and Ayuso. The chances of the Norwegian rider surviving to the finish looked to be somewhere in the region of 'not much' to 'zero'.
Thanks, though, to a combination of hesitation behind and his own determination to succeed – perhaps helped along by a soupçon of mechanical misfortune on the part of Ganna – Dversnes kept pounding on the pedals even when the game looked to be up.
Like a final-set turnaround, or a brace of injury time goals to draw level and then win, his ride was surely the perfect example of why it's worth trying all the way to the bitter end – because sometimes that bitter end turns out sweet.
Results to follow...
Results
Tirreno-Adriatico 2025, stage five, Ascoli Piceno > Pergola (205km)
1. Fredrik Dversnes (Nor) Uno-X Mobillity in 5:04:56
2. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck +7s
3. Roger Adrià (Spa) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
4. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek
5. Alx Aranburu (Spa) Cofidis
6. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Q36.5
7. Romain Grégoire (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
8. Tobias Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
9. Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain Victrious
10. Simone Velasco (Ita) XDS-Astana, all at s.t.
General Classification
1. Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers, in 21:19:03
2. Juan Ayuso (Spa) UAE Team Emirates-XRG +22s
3. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious +29s
4. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech +34s
5. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Soudal-QuickStep +36s
6. Kevin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkea-B&B Hotels +41s
7. Laurens De Plus (Bel) Ineos Grenadiers +45s
8. Romain Grégoire (Fra) Groupama-FDJ +48s
9. David De La Cruz (Spa) Q36.5 +54s
10. Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain Victorious, at s.t.
