Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) won stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia from the breakaway as a four-rider move denied the peloton on a day that looked destined to end in a bunch kick.
Thomas bested Michael Valgren (EF Education-EasyPost) with Andrea Pietrobon (Polti-Kometa) in third after his own attempt to solo away from his companions came up just short in the end. Also newsworthy from the day was the bevy of crashes over the course of the stage, although none of the top 10 riders on GC lost time.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) finished safely in the peloton to hold on to the race lead.
The second break of the day goes the distance
- The winning breakaway was actually the second major move of the stage from Genoa to Lucca as an early breakaway, also comprising four riders, was caught with around 110 km still to go.
- Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike) crashed in the run-up to the intermediate sprint, which Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) went on to win, and then Thomas, Valgren, Pietrobon, and Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ) went clear with a little less than 80 km to go.
- It was never an especially large gap, hovering around a minute for quite some time. Meanwhile, more crashes waylaid the bunch, with Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) among those hitting the deck in a big pileup with some 25 km to go.
- A downhill run into Lucca and a tailwind gave the break a handy advantage as they tried to hold off the chasing teams of the sprinters, and the gap hardly changed into the last 10 km. With 5 km to go, the riders out front still had more than 30 seconds, and it became clear that the escapees might hold on.
- Pietrobon tried to solo away in the last kilometer and got an initial gap, but Paleni drove the chase to catch him and Pietrobon began to lose steam. Then Valgren launched his sprint. Thomas responded and pulled past the Dane, taking his team’s first pro win this year.
- Adrien Petit (Intermarché-Wanty) was the lone DNF in the end of a stage where, fortunately, the rest of the many crashers made it to the finish.
Brief analysis
- The sprinters’ teams may have misjudged the way that the finale would suit the escapees. The bunch had worked reasonably well to keep the gap small, with the Lidl-Trek team doing a fair bit of work at the front, but the downhill gradient towards the finish and a tailwind meant that both the breakaway and the peloton were flying at similarly high speeds.
- Alarm bells must have been going off in bunch with 10 km to go but the gap hardly came down over the next few minutes, at which point it became clear that the peloton might miss out. Then, riders started to look around, and it was all over for the sprinters’ chances from that point on.
- Pietrobon’s late attack looked like a good one at first but he flagged on the finishing straight. Thomas, meanwhile, may have been the most patient rider in the break, waiting for Paleni to help close Pietrobon down and then letting Valgren lead out the sprint. In the end, it paid off for Thomas, who took his first Grand Tour stage win at the line.
- Valgren may have been disappointed with the near miss, but it was still an achievement for the former Amstel Gold Race winner in his first Grand Tour appearance since a horror crash in 2022 that left him with a broken pelvis and a ruptured ACL, MCL, and meniscus.
Quote of the day
After the finish, Valgren credited most, though not all, of his breakaway companions for working well together. In any case, even without a win to show for his efforts, he has reason to be optimistic moving forward.
The Polti guy was taking short turns, not super strong, and then he came with a late attack. I think it messed up the cooperation. I had to do a really long sprint. I hoped to do a Magnus Cort Nielsen sprint but I have to learn a bit more.
-Michael Valgren after stage 5
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