Philippe Gilbert's never-say-die attitude allowed him to snatch one of the closest victories of the season at Tirreno-Adriatico.
Evans moves top of general classification
Philippe Gilbert's never-say-die attitude allowed him to snatch one of the closest victories of the season on stage five of Tirreno-Adriatico.
The Omega Pharma-Lotto rider had appeared out of contention as he passed under the flamme rouge, but surged forward on the long closing straight and pipped a shocked Wout Poels on the line to seal his third triumph of the season.
The 240km trek from Chieti to Castelraimondo had been billed as the queen stage of the tour and Team Sky's Mathew Hayman was present in a five-man escape group which moved clear early in the day.
With the Australian driving the quintet on, their lead grew out quickly and extended to over 11 minutes during the first 130km of action.
Despite losing a man on the Sasso Tetto, Hayman and co remained seven minutes ahead as they crested the highest climb of the tour, but their lead continued to tumble as Rabobank, Farnese Vini and Lampre all turned up the pace in the bunch.
By the time Hayman and Fabian Wegmann (Leopard-Trek) were pegged back inside the final 10km, only around 25 riders remained in the pack and their chances of catching Davide Malacarne (Quick-Step) and Andrey Amador (Movistar) appeared remote.
The tactical battle which ensued between the leaders worked to the chasers' advantage though, and as they dallied in the destination town, they were passed by Poels, who had jumped clear of the chase group two kilometres from home.
Despite Poels' best efforts, Gilbert made up almost 10 metres on the Vacansoleil rider before lunging to victory by a hair's breadth at the line. Damiano Cunego (Lampre) rounded off the podium in third.
A topsy-turvy day of action also saw Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) move to the top of the general classification after putting 15 seconds into overnight leader Robert Gesink (Rabobank). The Australian now leads Ivan Basso (Liquigas) by just two seconds, with Cunego a further second back in third. Thomas Löfkvist meanwhile, is Team Sky's highest-ranked rider in eighth overall.
