Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) further extended his lead in the Giro d’Italia today, after he claimed stage 5 in a sprint finale in Matera, following an undulating 151km route that saw the Danish rider hold off Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious) and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) in the final run to the line – bringing his stage tally to three so far in this year’s Italian Grand Tour.
Earlier, Giosuè Epis (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Davide Bais (Polti-VisitMalta) and Lorenzo Miles (Movistar) marked the day’s first breakaway effort, jettisoning the peloton shortly after the flag dropped.
After a long day out, the trio was still clinging to a modest advantage of 1:40, as the race turned inland towards the finish in Matera. However, Epis was the first rider to get reeled in by the peloton, after being caught just before the top of the climb at Montescaglioso.
Back in the peloton, Lidl-Trek was joined by UAE Team Emirates-XRG at the front, setting a strong pace that saw sprinters like Kooij, Van Uden, Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) struggling to stay on terms.
Up front, the remaining two escapees saw their margin reduced to just around a minute while heading into the final 25km.
Meanwhile, sprinters like Groves, Max Kanter (XDS-Astana) and Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) managed to make their way back to the front of the peloton following a series of short climbs.
However, that was not the case for Kooij and Van Uden, who continued to languish behind the front group.
With 12km to go, Milesi and Bais were eventually reined in by the peloton along the unclassified climb of the Castello Tramontano, with Visma-Lease A Bike working to move Wout van Aert into place to contest the sprint. But, the Belgian rider lost his impetus 4km from the finish.
From there, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe took over with a fierce pace, briefly causing Pedersen to lose contact. But, the pink jersey wearer made his way back to front thanks to his teammate Vacek who led the way.
Coming into the final 200 meters, Pedersen prospered from the slipstream of Zambanini, coming around the Italian rider during the waning moments to seize the stage victory.
