The riders battled each other and the elements in Sunday’s stage 5 of the 2014 Tirreno – Adriatico as they climbed through the snow fields to finish atop the Terminillo after almost five-and-a-half hours on the bike.

Team Katusha’s team leader Joaquim Rodriguez showed heart in today’s stage, riding against the blowing snow to take third place on the stage.

“In the end we were lucky that the snow was only in the last kms. Otherwise it would have been a disaster, another historical stage in cycling. I had a good day. This climb is for riders climbing with force and I am the more explosive type of rider, so I am happy with my result. I need to take advantage of my strong finish. So when Quintana went, I knew it was too far for me to go with him.  On the other hand, it was spectacular what he did,” said Joaquim Rodriguez to the Katusha website.

Jose Azevedo loos back satisfied under the circumstances there were today. The weather made it impossible to obtain a better result, but 3rd must definitely be counted as great.

“At the end it was really hard, cold and snow the last 4kms. Today we came with the ambition to try to win the stage. At the end we had three riders in the front group at the early attack from Quintana.  I think Joaquim waited just a little bit for Contador to close the gap and then at the end it was impossible to catch him. He was really fast and opened up a good gap to the rest. After that Joaquim just did his best result possible. I think he had the legs to follow when Quintana attacked, but he wasn’t 100% sure and hesitated just a bit. It’s his first big race this season and early on you sometimes have reservations. His third place is still good and it shows his good feelings on the bike are back,” said team director Jose Azevedo.

A blazing attack by Nairo Quintana (Movistar) with 5 km to go proved to be the winning move in the uphill stage. The Colombian rider picked off remains of the break and with 3,6 km to go was solo all the way to the finish line as weather conditions continued to worsen and the snow started sticking to the ground.

Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing) came in at 41-seconds behind Quintana with “Purito” into third place at 55-seconds. Quintana’s performance moved him into the race lead at 39- and 48-seconds to Mollema and fellow countryman Rigoberto Urán of Etixx – Quick Step. Joaquim Rodriguez currently holds 8th place with two stages still to come.

An early break of 8 riders slipped off the front to build a gap of more than seven minutes with Team Katusha’s Angel Vicioso part of that group. Efforts were beginning to break down as they approached the Terminillo climb and one by one they were picked off by the GC contenders as the climb began to bite. Quintana attacked from a long way out but his measured effort paid off for the 2014 Giro d’Italia winner and he now leads in the classification.

Tomorrow’s stage at 210 km begins in Rieti and ends in Porto Sant’Elpidio. Tirreno – Adriatico ends with a time trial on Tuesday.