The fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia ended up being a decisive day for the general classification. After a series of attacks from most of the top favourites, a group of four emerged to contest the stage win.
On the challenging circuit that concluded the stage, Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) was victorious, sprinting to victory ahead of Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM), and Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek).
With their performances, Vollering moved into second overall, Niedermaier third, and Holmgren fourth.
Marlen Reusser (Movistar), who had been second overall after the time trial, lost 53 seconds to Vollering and Van der Breggen and dropped to fifth overall. Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE-Team ADQ) and Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) finished fifth and sixth on the day, ahead of Reusser, and moved up to sixth and seventh overall, respectively.
[race_result id=9064 stage_id=90178 count=5 gc=0 year=2026]
[race_result id=9064 stage_id=90178 count=5 gc=5 year=2026]
How it happened
- With so much climbing and descending in the 146 km stage and after a decisive day on Tuesday, stage 5 started with a bang. Already 15 km into the stage, the peloton split under the pressure of Visma-Lease a bike, with Van der Breggen in group two. A "breakaway" group of 22 riders pushed a gap of over three minutes as the race crested the first category 1 climb of the Giro, the Passo Tre Croci.
- Lauren Dickson of FDJ United-Suez was the most dangerous rider in the breakaway with only a 1:38 deficit on Van der Breggen. The group contained 13 WorldTour teams, half of which had two riders in the move. EF Education-Oatly, Human Powered Health, Lidl-Trek, Liv AlUla Jayco, and Visma-Lease a Bike were all represented with two riders, while UAE-Team ADQ originally had three ahead of the race before Lara Gillespie was distanced on the climb.
- On the second category 1 climb of the day, FDJ United-Suez put pressure on the bunch and successfully cut down the numbers, but it was an attack by Marlen Reusser with 58 km to go, 3 km from the top of the climb, that really brought out the top GC contenders.
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