Rui Costa comes close in Burgos

After a strong attack, Rui Costa fell just 300m short of claiming victory as he was overhauled by Ivan Sosa.

With 10km left, the top riders group bridged the gap to a breakaway of 14 riders, including three from UAE Team Emirates (Rory Sutherland, Simone Petilli and Aleksandr Riabushenko); then, Rui Costa jumped clear at 1600 meters from the peak of the Lagunas de Neila’s ascent where the finish line of the fifth and final stage of the Vuelta a Burgos was fought out.
The former world champ managed to gain about ten seconds on a small group of chasers, but this margin was not enough to hold off Sosa on the hardest part of the climb.

The Portuguese rider (photo Bettini) crossed the finish line at 8 “from the Colombian, securing 10th in the GC which Sosa also claimed.

“Today I went very close to winning, but Sosa was very strong and he managed to push on in the hardest part – commented Rui Costa – Practically every day I tried to make the best of my good condition to take a result, and as a team we worked well, unfortunately there was someone there to beat us every time.
Now I have a few weeks to prepare for the Canadian classics with the Quebec GP and the Montreal GP“.

Stage 5 results
1 Ivan Sosa (Col) Team Ineos 3h33’53”
2 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 8″
3 Amanuel Ghebreizgabhier (Eri) Dimension Data 14″

Final general classification
1 Ivan Sosa (Col) Team Ineos  18h53’44”
2 Oscar Rodriguez (Esp) Euskadi- Murias 31″
3 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar 42″
10 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 2’05”