Quinn Simmons of Trek-Segafredo held on to the green King of the Mountain jersey Friday during the fifth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy.
Simmons, who finished 101st on the 155-kilometer stage from Sefro to Fermo, remains in first place in the King of the Mountain with 15 points. Simmons racked up KOM points during a punchy fourth stage, which he led after three laps.
The sixth stage will be key in the KOM race. Riders in the 215-kilometer stage will climb 3,817 vertical meters, finishing with two big climbs before arriving in Carpegna.
“I tried again to be in the breakaway today,” Simmons said Friday. “I felt I had good legs to be in the front and to look for KOM points, but my attempts were not the right ones. If I want to keep the jersey, there’s not much calculation to do. I have to make the breakaway tomorrow and see how it goes on the Carpegna climb. It could be a bit too much for me, but we will see.”
Davide Bais of EOLO-Kometa is second with 10 KOM points, while Xandro Meurisse of Alpecin-Fenix and Warren Barguil of Team Arkea Samsic both have nine.
Sepp Kuss of Team Jumbo-Visma has scored two KOM points and ranks 15th. On Friday, Kuss finished 86th on the fifth stage, 9:28 back.
Barguil won the stage in 3 hours, 39 minutes and 53 seconds, 10 seconds ahead of Meurisse.
Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates stayed in first place in the general classification with a sixth-place finish. He holds a nine-second lead over Remco Evenpoel of Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team.
Jonas Vingegaard of Jumbo-Visma is in fourth place in the general classification, 45 seconds back, after placing seventh Friday in the same time as Pogacar.
Giulio Ciccone of Trek-Segafredo is 18th in the general standings leading the team, 1:30 behind Pogacar. Ciccone finished 16th on Friday, 35 seconds back.
The race will conclude Sunday with a 159-kilometer seventh stage that will have 1,296 meters of climbing.
