On Wednesday, French cyclist Benjamin Thomas of the Cofidis team dashed ahead of his fellow escapees to clinch victory in the fifth stage of the Giro d’Italia, marking the team’s first triumph of the year. The quartet made their break from the main group following the concluding intermediate sprint, with 80 kilometres remaining, and managed to stay ahead of the pursuers despite the optimal efforts of the key sprint challengers’ squads.
Italian cyclist Andrea Pietrobon from Team Polti-Kometa seemed poised to cross the finish line first after the 178-kilometre journey from Genoa to Lucca, but his attempt for a win in the closing stages was premature, leading to him being overtaken just before the finish line. Pietrobon had to content himself with third place on the podium, while Denmark’s Michael Valgren from EF Education-EasyPost secured the second spot. Nevertheless, the standout performance from Thomas earned him his inaugural Grand Tour stage victory. The overall lead is still maintained by Tadej Pogacar.
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