Kaden Groves takes the win on a day marred by multiple crashes as Evenepoel, Roglic and Cavendish all go down at the Giro d'Italia
Cycling
Kaden Groves took the sprint win on a truly chaotic stage at the Giro d'Italia as bad weather and rogue dogs caused multiple crashes.
The 5th stage of the Giro d'Italia was expected to be a day for the sprinters, or perhaps one suited to the breakaway as a hilly day, with the start and finish taking place in Atripalda and Salerno specifically. Trying their luck from the break was Thomas Champion (Cofidis), Samuele Zoccarato (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) and Stefano Gandin (Team Corratec - Selle Italia).
On a horrible day weather wise there was early drama as the former Maglia Rosa, Remco Evenepoel was brought down in a crash caused by a dog. After a scary moment where he initially looked worse for wear, the Belgian remounted as was paced back to the peloton by his Soudal - Quick-Step teammates.
After that early bit of drama and panic and with the wet conditions playing a part, the pace of the race slowed right down as neither breakaway nor peloton wanted to take any risks.
Thibaut Pinot who was initially part of the early break before dropping back after taking maximum points at the early King of the Mountains classified climb, again reared his head off the front of the peloton to take the last point on offer behind the breakaway at the second climb of the day, increasing his overall lead in the classification.
With 35km to go the leading trio still had an advantage of 1:32 over the peloton although it was seemingly only a matter of time before the bunch put their foot down and swept them up.
The breakaway claimed all the bonus seconds on offer at the intermediate sprint but with all 3 riders well down in the general classification, none were a threat to the Maglia Rosa of Andreas Leknessund.
Following the sprint, Zoccarato decided to make a go of it alone and attacked his breakaway companions.
Soon after, the other two riders from the break had been swept up by the bunch but the lone leader had stretched his advantage to back over a minute with 15km to go.
Yet another crash with 7km to go saw a number of riders held up including the Maglia Rosa, Primoz Roglic and some of the favourites for the stage win, Kaden Groves and Fernando Gaviria.
As Zoccarato was caught the battle became as much about the riders behind regrouping as it was about the stage win.
Thankfully for Leknessund and Roglic, INEOS Grenadiers and Soudal - Quick-Step kept the pace relatively slow at the front.
Then with around 2km to go Remco Evenepoel went down for the second time today, Time gaps weren't a threat as it was within the final 3km but it was hardly ideal for the Belgian.
In the sprint for the win yet another crash as Mark Cavendish slipped across the line. Kaden Groves though managed to stay up right and powered to a memorable victory.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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