Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) gained stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia in a busy mass dash for the end in Messina. The Frenchman hit the road simply forward of Fernando Gaviria (UAE Staff Emirates) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Israel-Premier Tech) after 174km stage that began in Catania.
It was the first victory of 2022 for Démare. Nonetheless, it wasn’t a simple buildup for sprinters on the ultimate day on the Mediterranean Island of Sicily.
Lots of the sprinters, together with Mark Cavendish (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), fell out of rivalry on the day’s most important climb. Following the intermediate dash at Francavilla di Sicilia after 55km, the route eased upward for an additional 20km to the summit of the class 2 Portella Mandrazzi. Alpecin-Fenix riders elevated the tempo on the entrance en masse and enormous splits started to type.
Whereas the Cavendish and Ewan teams by no means made it again to the entrance, Démare used his Groupama-FDJ teammates to rejoin the leaders after which launch for the victory within the closing 800 metres.
In contrast to the end on Mount Etna that shook up the overall classification the day earlier than, Wednesday’s general leaderboard remained the identical with Juan Pedro López (Trek-Segafredo), the stage 4 runner-up, remaining in entrance of Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe), the stage 4 winner.
Watch the highlights of the opening stage above.
