Kaden Groves of the Alpecin – Deuceninck team takes the sprint win on a rainy, crash-ridden day for Stage 5 of the 2023 Giro d’Italia. Maglia Rosa Andreas Leknessund finishes the day safely to hold onto his race lead.
The 171-kilometre long Atripalda-Salerno was a stage for both climbers and sprinters due to a jagged start with 2600m of climbing to open to the route, contrasting with a finish suitable for the fast wheels of the peloton. After Km 120 and the peak of the final climb – the category 3 Oliveto Citra (2.7km at 8.5%) – the roads head gradually downhill before flattening out completely for the last 30km.
The peloton, 172 riders strong, crossed the KM0 at 13:02. Ramon Sinkeldam (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Remy Rochas (Cofidis), and Valerio Conti (Corratec Selle Italia) did not start today. Rain was expected the entire day.
Thomas Champion (Cofidis), Samuele Zoccarato (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) and Stefano Gandin (Team Corratec-Selle Italia) made the early attack. Pinot returned to the peloton soon after. With 100km to go, the leaders were on a tight leash, with just under a 2 minute gap back to the maglia rosa group. As would be expected, Team DSM is at the front to protect Andreas Leknessund’s lead.
As the three leaders started up the Oliveto Citra climb, their lead seemed to be eroding, but rain and fog were limiting visibility and making the roads slippery, giving the leaders some relative safety.
With about 26km to go, Zoccarato went solo as Champion and Gandin gave up the break. Looks like Gandin burned his final match to take the final intermediate sprint in Battipaglia. Still, no one expected Zoccarato to stay clear.
12km to go and the peloton was just 600m behind Zoccarato. DSM, Arkea-Samsic, INEOS, and Jumbo Vista were all making themselves known at the front of the gruppo. The sprinters were still holding back.
At 7km in the final turn, a crash slows up the peloton and there’s a definite split. The maglia rosa managed to avoid the mess. Somewhere in there Zoccarato was caught.
“I didn’t think the breakaway would go that far,” Zoccarato said after the race. “The idea of the team was to bring about ten riders in the breakaway, in the end we went in a few to the attack, I was surprised to have arrived so far. I believed it for a moment, it gave me a lot of morale when I saw the lead at -20km, I gave it everything, now we think about the next stages, the Giro is still long.”
3km to go and the sprinters were making their moves and the peloton was all back together. But there was another crash! Remco Evenpoel was down for the second time today.
Mark Cavendish, Michael Matthews and Mads Petersen were all there, but it was Groves who came out on top.
Speaking seconds after the stage finish, the stage winner Kaden Groves said: “I thought everything was going well but I crashed with 7km to go. But luckily I put my chain back on and I got back to the front. It wasn’t very clean. We all got lost. I managed to get on the wheels of DSM and I had the legs to win. It’s a dream to win a stage of the Giro. This the race I’ve been focusing on since November. I thank the team and everyone involved. The kept putting their faith in me after two third places this week.”
The Maglia Rosa Andreas Leknessund said: “At 7km to go, I don’t know exactly what happened. There were people on the ground. For me, it was a question of taking as few risks as possible. Everyone was stressed. I was as well, but only for a short time and luckily, we came through pretty quickly thanks to the work of the GC teams and the sprinters teams who were willing to come across. I had a short sleep last night because of the emotion. I’ve realised through messages and reactions that it’s pretty big to have the Maglia Rosa. I had a special day on the bike, not with the nicest weather but I managed to enjoy the colours. Sitting on the start line with the Maglia Rosa is something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
Stage 5 Brief Results:
- Kaden Groves (ADC) at 4h 30’19”
- Jonathon Milan (TBV) s.t.
- Mads Pedersen (TFS) s.t.
- Alberto Dainese (DSM) s.t.
- Mark Cavendish (AST) s.t.
General Classification After Stage 5:
- Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM)
- Remco Evenpoel (Soudal Quick Step) @ 28″
- Aurélien Paret-Peintre (AG2R Citroën) @ 30″
- Joao Almeida (Team UAE)
- Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma)
Jerseys:
- Maglia Rosa, leader of the General Classification, sponsored by Enel – Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM)
- Maglia Ciclamino, leader of the Points Classification, sponsored by Agenzia ICE with the brand Madeinitaly.gov.it – Jon
athan Milan (Bahrain – Victorious) - Maglia Azzurra, leader of the Gran Premio della Montagna, sponsored by Banca Mediolanum – Thibaut Pinot (Groupama – FDJ)
- Maglia Bianca, Best Young Rider, sponsored by Intimissimi Uomo – Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM)
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