Giro d'Italia 2025 Stage 5

May 14, 2025 It might be another day for the classics type sprinters with a dragging finish after a difficult final 30KM. At 151KM, it's a short day from Ceglie Messapica to Matera. There are two Intermediate Sprints on the journey West across Southern Puglia into Basilicata, one in Massafra after 43KM of racing and the second in Marina di Ginosa. The route turns North toward Matera for the Redbull Golden Kilometer at the top of a 1.6KM, 6% climb. There are a few short climbs near the finish including Montescaglioso at 28KM to go which is 3KM long at almost 8.5%. After the descent, they start the shallow 4% climb up to Matera where they face a few more short but steep climbs that take them to the finish line. Southern Italy continued to show off with great weather and great crowds. Three riders got away almost immediately after the flag dropped which was a surprise given the terrain and possibility of aggressive racing. The break included Giosuè Epis of Arkéa-B&B Hotels, Lorenzo Milesi of Movistar, and Davide Bais of Polti-VisitMalta. Lidl-Trek started riding behind and capped their advantage at 2 minutes 30 seconds. Epis won the first Intermediate Sprint in Massafra with 108KM to go. Only 3 and 1 points were available for the peloton but they were still interested. Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek got a jump 500M from the line and railed the left turn. He had so much of a gap that he just sat up and rolled across to take 3 points. Jensen Plowright of Alpecin-Deceuninck snagged the final point. The race continued in a holding pattern with Jacopo Mosca of Lidl-Trek doing 100% of the controlling in the peloton. The next action came with 74KM to go at the Intermediate Sprint in Marina di Ginosa. The result in the break was the same, Epis won ahead of Bais and Milesi. In the peloton, Plowright went for a long sprint but Pedersen was in the wheel the entire time. It ended up just being a good lead out for Pedersen who added 3 more points to his Maglia Ciclamino tally. At 51.5KM to go, the break started the climb into Bernalda for the Redbull Golden Kilometer with a gap of just 1 minute to the peloton. Milesi led up the climb but Epis would not be denied and he took the sprint and the 6 bonus seconds ahead of Bais then Milesi. The gap grew out to 2 minutes 20 seconds after Bais and Milesi attacked, dropping Epis, but the peloton were winding up the speed with the climb to Montescaglioso coming soon. The bunch turned right off of the main road onto the climb to Montescaglioso with 31KM to go. The road was still very wide but quite steep at the bottom. In the break, Milesi took maximum points ahead of Bais but their lead was coming back down to 1 minute. In the bunch, almost all of the pure sprinters were dropped and out the back of the peloton as UAE-XRG kept the pace uncomfortably high. The peloton split on the descent but the groups came back together with 21KM to go with the exception of most of the sprinters. Milesi and Bais were caught just outside of 13KM to go. All of the GC teams were lined up in color order but UAE-XRG took the lead over the unclassified climb to Matera before dipping down and around the West side of town. UAE-XRG relinquished control to Lidl-Trek and Israel-Premier Tech after the descent for the dragging road through 5KM to go. Mathias Vacek of Lidl-Trek led up the final steep climb at 2KM to go but Pedersen had slipped from second wheel to around 25th. Vacek backed off over the top but kept the pace high enough to avoid counter attacks. Under 1KM to go, there was no organization. With 700M to go, Vacek got Pedersen back to the front but they were in a drag race with Picnic-PostNL. It was Vacek that won the final corner at 300M and, when the road straightened, Pedersen went. Tom Pidcock of Q36.5 was on his wheel and nearly drew level with 50M to go but no one would stop Pedersen from taking his third win of the first five stages. Pidcock faded in last pedal strokes and was passed by Edoardo Zambanini of Bahrain Victorious who took second place after a late run.