Wednesday’s fifth stage of the Giro d’Italia was raced in inclement weather that stymied the peloton’s desire to control the breakaway. In the end, Giulio Ciccone lost the pink jersey to Portuguese Afonso Eulálio, making him the fourth rider to wear it in the 109th edition. His breakaway partner, tenacious Igor Arrieta, survived a crash and other scary moments to take the day’s flowers, the second consecutive UAE-Emirates victory. Derek Gee-West was top Canadian in 29th.
Preliminaries
Once the Giro reached Italy, an Italian took over the pink jersey. Ciccone led Jan Christen and Florian Stork by four seconds. Derek Gee-West, who would be defending pink on Wednesday, had moved up to 30th on GC.
The Course
Still in South Italy, Wednesday’s profile was the hilliest yet of the 109th edition, even though there were only two categorized climbs, Cat. 3 Prestieri early and challenging Cat. 2 Montagna Grande di Viggiano in the final third. Rain harried the riders.
The largest breakaway of the Giro so far, 13 fellows, took off soon after start in Praia a Mare. The move included Tuesday’s stage winner Jhonatan Narvaez, Eulálio and previous pink jersey Thomas Silva. Einer Rubio took the maximum KOM points on Prestieri. The rain really tipped down in the middle of the route.
At 6.6 km of 9.2 percent, Montagna Grande di Viggiano wasn’t kidding around. Uncategorized climbing preceded it, where Igor Arrieta showed his breakmates a clean set of wheels. Back in the peloton, Red Bull relieved Lidl-Trek from locomotive duties. Arrieta started the climb proper 24 seconds before former companions and 1:45 ahead of the pink jersey group.
Eulálio bridged over to Arrieta. When they crested–Arrieta first–they were still 2:00 clear of the peloton, with three riders in between.
A rippling plateau led to the Red Bull Kilometre. As more riders galloped into the gap, the pink jersey group fell farther behind. By the time Ciccone went to the front himself, the writing was on the wall, and he was going to lose pink to Eulálio.
On the long, wet descent, the Spaniard and the Portuguese kept clear of riders in the growing gap, the peloton falling behind six minutes. Arrieta crashed with 13.6 km to go, and then Eulálio…
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