Top placed Brit Max Poole experiences lucky near miss on Giro d’Italia stage 5: “Had to check his effort to avoid a potential crash”
Cycling
Five stages into the 2025 Giro d’Italia, 22-year-old Max
Poole is enjoying a promising start to his first appearance at the Italian
Grand Tour. The British rider, racing for Team Picnic PostNL, currently sits
seventh in the general classification, just 26 seconds behind overall pre-race favourite
Primoz Roglic.
It’s a performance that comes at a crucial time for both
Poole and his team. Picnic PostNL are locked in a WorldTour relegation battle
and need every UCI point they can get. Poole’s strong position on GC, alongside
his climbing form and sprint presence, could prove vital over the next two and
a half weeks.
Read also
Poole narrowly missed out on a high placing in yesterday’s
stage into Matera after being forced to check his sprint in the final metres.
Running into trouble after being clipped by second-place finisher Edoardo
Zambanini, Poole’s shot at a podium result vanished in an instant.
The team told Cycling News, "Poole started his sprint
from around sixth wheel but unfortunately had to check his effort to avoid a
potential crash; with the duo ultimately finishing safely in the peloton."
Romain Bardet, another experienced figure in the Picnic
PostNL lineup, added, "We were there in the last kilometre, but
unfortunately, we couldn't sprint the way we wanted to as Max got blocked a
bit."
While the crash avoidance cost Poole a potential top result,
his consistency has kept him firmly in the GC conversation, especially given
the mountains still to come.
Read also
Born in Scunthorpe, Poole is contesting just his third
career Grand Tour, having finished 35th overall at the 2024 Vuelta a España. He
arrived at the Giro on the back of an impressive seventh place at the Tour of
the Alps, where he also claimed the young riders classification.
Stage 5 saw his teammate Chris Hamilton get into the day’s
main break, further underlining the team’s collective strength. Reflecting on
the stage, Hamilton said in a team press release, “It was our intention to get
someone up in the break today because we thought it could be good chance for
it.
“I managed to find myself in a pretty good group but
unfortunately we didn’t get too big a time gap and the bunch didn’t let us get
too far up the road. We were caught just over the top of the final climb. From
then on, it was about keeping Romain and Max safe and in position for the final
which we did well. I think it was another good team display from the guys.”
Fin MajorCycling Journalist
Fin Major is a UK-based writer at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2024. He is the site’s main writer for FAQs and evergreen explainers and has written around 2,000 pieces for the platform. Alongside this work, he focuses on in-depth analysis and covers the biggest races on the calendar, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, providing clear context around performance trends, tactics, and key storylines.
In his reporting, Fin uses reputable data sources such as ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available. Outside of writing, Fin is an active cyclist, which supports his practical understanding of the sport and its demands.
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