Frenchman Arnaud Demare of the FDJ team won stage five of the Giro d’Italia in a sprint finish along the seafront at the port of Messina, Sicily, on Tuesday ahead of Team UAE’s Fernando Gaviria. It was the powerfully built sprinter’s seventh stage win at the Giro, the 30-year-old punched the air as he zipped over the line with after a dizzyingly fast finish on a half-mile-long home straight.

“We know what we are capable of but we had to be patient,” said Demare, who was second to Cavendish on stage three.

The Giro’s two big-name sprinters Mark Cavendish and Caleb Ewan fell off the pace on the Portella Mandrazzi mountain ay 4000 foot altitude halfway into the 108 mile race from Catania on which Demare was also dropped, but only briefly.

“My team got me back in touch on the descent. Then we went to the front and set the pace,” he said.

After the mountain, some of the sprint teams forged an alliance of fortune at the head of the peloton to ensure stage three winner Cavendish and his main rival Ewan fought a losing battle to catch up.

Juan Pedro Lopez of Trek-Segafredo retained the overall leader’s pink jersey and British climber Simon Yates remained the top-placed rider from the favorites after his astonishing time-trial win in Hungary.

GIRO D’ITALIA 2022 STAGE 5 RESULTS

1	Arnaud DÉMARE	Groupama – FDJ	4:03:56
2	Fernando GAVIRIA	UAE Team Emirates	0:00
3	Giacomo NIZZOLO	Israel – Premier Tech	0:00
4	Davide BALLERINI	Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team	0:00
5	Biniam GIRMAY	Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux	0:00
6	Phil BAUHAUS	Bahrain – Victorious	0:00
7	Alberto DAINESE	Team DSM	0:00
8	Natnael TESFATSION	Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli	0:00
9	Edward THEUNS	Trek – Segafredo	0:00
10	Simone CONSONNI	Cofidis	0:00

GIRO D’ITALIA 2022 STANDINGS

1	Juan LÓPEZ	Trek – Segafredo	18:21:03
2	Lennard KAMNA	BORA – hansgrohe	0:39
3	Rein TAARAMÄE	Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux	0:58
4	Simon YATES	Team BikeExchange – Jayco	1:42
5	Mauri VANSEVENANT	Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team	1:47
6	Wilco KELDERMAN	BORA – hansgrohe	1:55
7	Joao ALMEIDA	UAE Team Emirates	1:58
8	Pello BILBAO	Bahrain – Victorious	2:00
9	Richie PORTE	INEOS Grenadiers	2:04
10	Romain BARDET	Team DSM	2:06

 

RBA/AFP Photos: Sprint Cycling Agency