Ethiopian champion Tsgabu Grmay was eager to get out in front on stage 5 of the Vuelta a Espana and remind the peloton Lampre-Merida are in the race. The Italian team lost Rafa Valls on the eve of the Spanish grand tour due to injury while captain Przemyslaw Niemiec crashed out of the race on stage 2 leaving the team to reconsider its goals at the third grand tour of the season.
Grmay, who made his grand tour debut at the Giro d'Italia in May, was one of three escapees in the breakaway for the day that lost momentum and cohesion inside the final 20km as the sprinters' teams started to get organised.
"I was one of the cyclists of the team who had received the task to try to join the breakaways," Grmay explained. "In the early kilometers of the stage there was a series of attacks and I tried to escape from the peloton. I had good legs and I could obtain an interesting advantage, then I was joined by two other riders and the gap of the bunch increased."
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Better suited to the high mountains then the hot flat road of Andalusia, Grmay explained the weather and strong headwind made it a hard day in the saddle but one which has given him confidence he can make a mark on the race in the remaining two weeks.
"I'm happy I succeeded in achieving the goal of joining the breakaway, but I want to try again on the mountains stages, where I'll have more chance to battle for a top result," he added.
With 74 race days already in his legs to make it his longest season by eight days already, Grmay will need to balance his ambitions for a high stage finish alongside fatigue having started his season back in January at the Tour Down Under where he finished 11th overall.
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