JJ impressive in Tirreno

Juan José Oroz was at his aggressive best in yesterday's fifth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico. After an earlier break of 11 had been caught, including Alan, JJ went it alone, attacking some 30 kilometres out. Eventual winner Gasparotto managed to bridge across, but the final climb with 1 click to go proved too hard for JJ, and he fell back. He eventually came in 12th, and occupies the same place overall. Amets came in 57 seconds back in 28th place, Alan was 44th at 1:57, Jorge 71st at 9:47, Iñaki 75ht at 10:31, Pablo 78th at 10:31 as well, while Rubén was 83th, a full 24:05 down. Overall standings:

• 12th, Juan José Oroz, 1:05
• 32nd, Amets Txurruka, 3:04
• 39th, Alan Pérez, 6:24
• 48th, Iñaki Isasi, 12:07
• 63rd, Rubén Pérez, 25:21
• 77th, Jorge Azanza, 32:33
• 115th, Pablo Urtasun, 56:10

After the stage, JJ had this to say to the media: "The first 60 kilometres went by the coast and we were practically flying. There were 1000 attack, and in every single one an Euskaltel rider was present. The team worked to the maximum all day. Finally a break of 11 got away, but the presence of Pinotti made it difficult. The Italian was close to Scarponi overall, and thus the break weren't given much leeway. But we got Alan into that break. We went really fast up the last climb of the day with 55 clicks to go. The pack split, Pinotti went it alone, and Scarponi crashed... It was crazy. With 30 clicks to go a group got away, and I was in it. I attacked and I went solo. When someone attacked again with 15 to go Gasparotto bridged up to me. We worked well together and arrived at the last incline with an advantage of 20 seconds. Perhaps on another type of terrain I would have had a better shot at it, but it was too step and I blew up. My legs were okay, but the unevenness made it hard. Gaparotto did better, and managed to stay with the favourites and win. As a team we're doing a remarkable race. Our performance should be valued. It's a very hard race, the stages are demanding and there's always some sort of surprise from the Italians. But despite all this we're in the break each day. I don't want to mention one of us in particular 'cause we're all doing well here. The other teams in the peloton recognise the work we're doing, and that says a lot about our attitude. There's two days to go, let's see if we can keep this up".