Arnaud Démare wins Giro d'Italia Stage 5 Sprint
Groupama - FDJ provided a full leadout for Arnaud Démare put into perfect position towards the end of the stage where he was the fastest in the final sprint
The day's breakaway consisted yet again the two Drone Hopper - Androni Giocatolli riders Mattia Bais and Filippo Tagliani, they were joined by Mirco Maestri (EOLO-Kometa), Alessandro Tonelli (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè) and Jaakko Hänninen (AG2R Citröen Team).
The got a maximum lea of around 3 minutes, but were caught with 67 kilometers to go.
This was because the pace was ramped up very early on. With the second category Portella Mandrazzi on the route, Alpecin-Fenix and Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux pushed the pace in the climb and descent and dropping sprinters Mark Cavendish, Caleb Ewan and Arnaud Démare in the process. The Frenchman Démare managed to get back to the peloton, behind those dropped formed a groupetto to chase back on but eventually gave up unable to close the 2m 30s gap.
The final sprint was very chaotic, with FDJ keeping Arnaud Démare to the forefront, and when he launched his sprint the Frenchman managed to have the speed to hold off everyone else.
Fernando Gaviria and Giacomo Nizzolo finished second and third, as the peloton once again managed to arrive without a crash in the final sprint.
After the stage the Giro d'Italia takes the ferry to the Italian mainland for Thursday's sixth stage from Palmi to Scalea, a 192 km rolling stage that will likely call for another sprint finish.
2022 Giro d'Italia Stage 5 Top 10
01 FRA Arnaud Démare Groupama-FDJ 04:03:56
02 COL Fernando Gaviria UAE Team Emirates + 00
03 ITA Giacomo Nizzolo Israel-Premier Tech + 00
04 ITA Davide Ballerini Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team + 00
05 ERI Biniam Girmay Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert + 00
06 GER Phil Bauhaus Bahrain Victorious + 00
07 ITA Alberto Dainese Team DSM + 00
08 ERI Natnael Tesfazion Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli + 00
09 BEL Edward Theuns Trek-Segafredo + 00
10 ITA Simone Consonni Cofidis + 00
11 ESP José Joaquin Rojas Movistar Team + 00
2022 Giro d'Italia GC after Stage 5
01 ESP Juan Pedro Lopez Trek-Segafredo 18:21:03
02 GER Lennard Kämna BORA-hansgrohe + 39
03 EST Rein Taaramäe Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert + 58
04 GBR Simon Yates Team BikeExchange-Jayco + 01:42
05 BEL Mauri Vansevenant Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team + 01:47
06 NED Wilco Kelderman BORA-hansgrohe + 01:55
07 POR Joao Almeida UAE Team Emirates + 01:58
08 ESP Pello Bilbao Bahrain Victorious + 02:00
09 AUS Richie Porte INEOS Grenadiers + 02:04
10 FRA Romain Bardet Team DSM + 02:06