Meersman doubles up with stage 5 win in chaotic finale

Both Meersman (Etixx-QuickStep) and Felline (Trek-Segafredo) led home a select group of 13 riders after two high-speed crashes in the closing kilometres split the pack and ended the race of Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo).

Meersman, winner of Sunday's second stage, proved the strongest once again after an expert lead-out by team-mate Zdenek Stybar to secure his second Grand Tour stage win despite a slight deviation near the finish line as he closed the door on his nearest rival, Felline.

Frenchman Kevin Reza (FDJ) took third place ahead of Spain's Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) and Belgian Zico Waeytens (Giant-Alpecin) in the 171.3km stage from Viveiro.

Colombia’s Darwin Atapuma (BMC) retained the leader’s red jersey despite being held back by two big crashes which marred the business end of an otherwise drab stage hampered by rain showers in the north-western Spanish province of Galicia.

Kruijswijk – the 29-year-old Dutchman who came so close to winning May’s Giro d’Italia – was the highest profile casualty of the first incident, which occurred around 2km from the finish. Clipping an exposed bollard at speed, Kruijswijk was one of numerous riders to hit the deck before being stretchered to hospital with a suspected broken collarbone.

A second crash inside the final kilometre brought down three riders including Estaban Chavas (Orica-BikeExchange) and former red jersey Michal Kwiatkowski of Team Sky.

The Polish rider’s team-mate Chris Froome – one of the pre-race favourites – narrowly avoided falling before steadying himself to retain his third place on GC behind Atapuma and Spanish veteran Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).

Two riders – Portugal’s Tiago Machado (Katusha) and Frenchman Julien Morice (Direct Energie) – broke clear of the peloton in the opening kilometre of the stage to build up a maximum lead of around five minutes as the rain pounded down with little respite.

Clearly toiling in a first offensive foray in his maiden Grand Tour, Morice could not emulate the success of team-mate, compatriot and fellow debutant Lilian Calmejane – winner of Tuesday's previous stage. Instead, the 25-year-old was dropped by Machado shortly after the feed zone with 75km remaining.

Machado, a veteran of five Vueltas yet still in search of an elusive maiden stage scalp, pushed on to stretch the lead to more than six minutes before the inevitable.

With the teams of the sprinters combining on the front of the pack once the sun had come out and Machado had crested the only categorised climb in pole position, the 30-year-old Portuguese’s lead came tumbling down. Machado was eventually swallowed up by the combined trains of Sky and Movistar with 15km remaining.

Approaching the city walls of Lugo it was Simon Clarke (Cannondale-Drapac) who attacked first from the peloton. The Australian’s move was covered by Belgian national champion Philippe Gilbert (BMC) and the pair opened up a small gap as the chaos from that initial crash disrupted the chase behind.

When the duo was caught ahead of the final kilometre it was the cue for Stybar and Meersman to take over the reins. A second crash caused more confusion as Stybar launched Meersman, who kept to the script to take his second win in four days.

“I was extremely happy with the first victory and it gave me a lot of confidence today,” Meersman, 30, said. “I was extremely happy with the lead out from Stybar and I did a good sprint. I’m really happy.”

With his second win of the race Meersman move into the top of the green jersey points standings at the expense of stage 3 winner Alexandre Geniez of FDJ, who still leads the king of the mountains classification.

The Vuelta continues on Thursday with the rolling 163.2km stage 6 from Monforte de Lemos to Luintra in the province of Ourense – on paper a perfect day for a breakaway but also a chance for Meersman to bag his hat-trick.