'Never underestimate the break' – Thomas lands shock win as sprint teams squabble

Drama reigned supreme in Stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia as a gutsy quartet picked the pocket of the peloton to deny the sprinters and contest for the spoils in Lucca. Victory went to Frenchman Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) after he emerged from the wheel of Denmark’s Michael Valgren (EF Education-EasyPost) as the duo swooped past Italy’s Andrea Pietrobon (Team Polti Kometa) on the home straight.

Thomas’s victory was a first for his Cofidis team in 2024 and left the bickering teams of the race’s sprinters red-faced after they made a hash of the chase towards the end of the 178km stage from Genova.

Valgren took second place to cap his long comeback from a severe injury in 2022, while Pietrobon slumped to third after gambling the house on an opportunistic long-range attack with 800 metres remaining. Frenchman Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ) crossed the line for fourth before Italy’s Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) led the peloton home just 11 seconds down.

Milan’s fifth place consolidated his lead in the maglia ciclamino standings but left the Stage 4 winner a frustrated figure after his Lidl-Trek team were forced to lead much of the chase as the race entered its tense endgame.

Australia’s Caleb Ewan (Jayco-AlUla), Germany’s Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious), Belgium’s Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), Dutchman Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Latvia’s Mihkels Madis (Intermarche-Wanty) completed the top 10 as Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) retained the pink jersey on a day of GC stalemate.

The decisive break formed in the aftermath of the first intermediate sprint with 77km remaining. An initial four-man move had already been brought to heel after the Alpecin-Deceuninck team of Australian sprinter Kaden Groves set an infernal tempo up the day’s main climb, the third-category Passo del Bracco.

Alpecin’s pace saw a cluster of sprinters tailed off as a leading quartet of Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ), Mattia Bais (Polti Kometa), Simon Geschke (Cofidis) and Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane) were thwarted.

While Ewan, Merlier and Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) were all able to quickly rejoin the peloton on the descent, Dutchman Fabio Jakobsen needed much longer to be nursed back by two dsm-firmenich PostNL team-mates after dropping four minutes behind.

A series of crashes marred the action as the French European champion Christophe Laporte, his Hungarian Visma-Lease a Bike team-mate Attila Valter, Canadian veteran Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) and Norway’s Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers) all hit the deck in separate incidents.

If the day’s first quartet never stood a chance of going the distance, the same could not be said of the second foursome to try their luck, with Thomas, Valgren, Pietrobon and Paleni all combining well to stretch their lead well over the minute mark with 50km remaining.

On most days, this would not have been enough. But when Milan’s Lidl-Trek team found little charity from their colleagues and decided to drop back, indecision took over the chase and gave the leaders a second wind.

The advantage was still around a minute going over the top of the Cat.4 climb to Montemagno with 20km remaining. A tailwind and a downhill ride towards the beautiful walled city of Lucca combined with the disruption behind to swing the pendulum in the favour of the break.

Of the four leader, only Pietrobon appeared to be feeling the pinch, the Italian debutant merely contributing to short pulls on the front as the finish drew ever closer. But it was all a ruse and the 25-year-old darted clear from the back inside the final kilometre to steel a march over his rivals.

Thomas gambled by holding off his pursuit, instead relying on the strength of Valgren who pulled the Frenchman back into contention on the home straight. With the peloton bearing down behind, Pietrobon was caught just metres from the line, with Thomas surging clear from Valgren’s wheel to take a quality win.

Track specialist Thomas, who lives in Italy and often trains in the area, said that he used his local knowledge of the final climb to Montemagno to steer him to the biggest triumph of his career.

“It was like a long, long, long team pursuit,” the 28-year-old said. “We did an amazing break. I don’t believe it. It was a really hard final and every pull was full gas. It’s unbelievable. I think 10 kilometres to go we started to believe because it was still 40 seconds and we had a tailwind.

“Nobody bet on the attackers today and the final was really critical because of the attack with one kilometre to go from the Italian rider [Pietrobon]. I risked losing by not closing the gap [myself]. Everything is perfect today – I don’t know what to say.”

Valgren’s second place was bittersweet for the Dane who was almost forced to retire in 2022 after fracturing his pelvis, dislocating a hip and injuring his knee in the Route d’Occitanie. The 32-year-old praised his breakaway companions but admitted it felt like they were “three and a half riders” after Pietrobon’s gamesmanship in the finale.

“Chapeau to the guys for working well together – we didn’t start playing games, which was nice. [Although] the Polti guy was taking short turns and was not super strong – and then came with a late attack which messed up the cooperation obviously. I had to go for a really long sprint. But we worked well together and we knew it would be hard and we made it,” Valgren said.

On his long comeback to the top, the emotional EF Education-EasyPost rider added: “A few years back I was not sure if I had a contract. The team really helped me through this in a really good way and I’m really happy to start to pay things back. I’m just grateful I can still be a cyclist, so thanks to everyone.”

Milan’s fifth place saw the Italian powerhouse extend his lead over Merlier to 45 points in the maglia ciclamino standings – but the 23-year-old was left rueing a chance of doubling up before the focus shifts back to the battle for pink on Thursday with a sixth stage that features two sections of Tuscan gravel.

After a quiet two days in the pink jersey, race leader Pogacar – who soloed to glory earlier in the spring over the similar white roads in Strade Bianche – may find it hard to resist going on another attack.