"It was a pretty complicated stage today" - Caleb Ewan joins those in peloton critical of Alpecin-Deceuninck tactics on stage 5 of Giro d'Italia

Despite being the second-fastest sprinter in the race for the line on stage 5 at the 2024 Giro d'Italia, Caleb Ewan was forced to settle for 6th place on the day as the breakaway narrowly held on.

"It was a pretty complicated stage today," the Aussie sprint star reflected in his post-stage interview with the official social media pages of Team Jayco AlUla. "Alpecin-Deceuninck went full gas on the climb in the middle and made it quite hard, but they sat up afterwards and that a new breakaway go, not too far from the finish."

That second breakaway ended up being the one to take the spoils too as Cofidis' Benjamin Thomas edged out EF Education-EasyPost's Michael Valgren to take the win on the stage, ending his team's long wait for victory in 2024 in the process.

Ewan, like many in the peloton however, has been left questioning Alpecin-Deceuninck's tactics. "When you have a fresh group of strong guys go that close to the finish, it's always going to be hard to bring back. Our boys did all they could to try and bring it back but in the end, it wasn't enough," Ewan concludes. "It was good to do a sprint today but it would have been nicer sprinting for the win."