Tirreno-Adriatico | INEOS and van der Poel explode the race; but Olav Kooij wins stage 5 in reduced bunch sprint for Visma

Team Visma | Lease a Bike have won today's stage of Tirreno-Adriatico and it was quite a pleasant surprise for the Dutch team as the sprinter had to survive a day full of attacks and echelons all throughout.

A rainy, windy and hilly day that was meant for chaos and that's exactly what it delivered. The opening climb of the day saw plenty attacks, including a few riders that had eye on the overall classification, but plenty were covered as well. It took a while for one to get away and it featured Mirco Maestri, Gijs Leemreize, Jorge Arcas, Jonas Rutsch and William Blume Levy.

The group would survive well, and avoid the chaos of the peloton. In the main climb of the day the pace was pushed and sprinters such as Jonathan Milan and Dylan Groenewegen were taken out of the fight for the win, and right after INEOS Grenadiers began attacking in the strong winds. The peloton split a lot, with riders like Mikel Landa, Derek Gee and Simon Yates getting caught out.

With 43 kilometers to go, from the front group, INEOS attacked again and a group of six riders was formed with Juan Ayuso and two teammates; Filippo Ganna and Laurens de Plus; and Quentin Pacher. The six-rider group worked well together however after some kilometers, the gap to the shortened peloton began to crumble and they waited. Mikel Landa had managed to bridge to the peloton, but then punctured, and Quick-Step's work then saw Landa and the Derek Gee group return to the front.

The breakaway was finally caught with 4 kilometers to go. Mathieu van der Poel launched an explosive attack in a short uphill ramp, but Filippo Ganna himself closed it down. Ben Healy went over the top and crossed the gap to the survivors.

Healy pushed the front group almost fully by himself with Maestri and Levy following him, not stopping but also not getting collaboration. Soudal - Quick-Step ultimately did a leadout to close down the gap in favour of Paul Magnier, but the Frenchman then lacked the legs in the final sprint. Olav Kooij was the strongest in the final sprint, beating Rick Pluimers and Mathieu van der Poel to the line.