Clarke wins stage after breakaway as Sky’s Kwiatkowski loses leader’s red jersey to Molard

Australian Simon Clarke won stage five of La Vuelta as Rudy Molard took the leader’s red jersey off the shoulders of Team Sky’s Michal Kwiatkowski.

Education First-drapac’s Clarke beat Trek-segafredo’s Bauke Mollema and BMC’S Alessandro De Marchi in a three-man sprint at the end of the 188.7km stage from Granada to Roquetas de Mar.

They had been in a 25-man breakaway which also included Groupama-fdj’s Molard, who came home in a second group just eight seconds behind. With the main peloton, including Kwiatkowski, not finishing for another four minutes and 47 seconds, Molard goes into the red jersey by 61 seconds from the Pole.

There was plenty of climbing on the day but the stage would be defined by the long descent to the finish. It was there Clarke, Mollema and De Marchi broke clear while Molard joined Davide Villella (Astana) and Floris De Tier (Lottonl) in a counter-attack.

Team Sky did chase in defence of the red jersey but it became clear at the foot of the descent they were content for Molard to take it as they focused on marking other general classification hopefuls.

It was a second Vuelta stage win for the 33-year-old Clarke, with the other coming in 2012.

“It’s just amazing,” he said. “I’ve worked so hard since I last won a stage here and I just couldn’t repeat it.”

Mitchelton-scott’s Simon Yates was safely in the main bunch and is fourth overall, 71 seconds behind Molard.

Meanwhile, Mark Cavendish is to take an indefinite break from cycling after being diagnosed with Epstein-barr virus (glandular fever) for a second time, his Team Dimension Data announced yesterday.

0 A triumphant Simon Clarke crosses the line in Roquetas de Mar.