"Without a motorbike in front of us, we couldn't see anything": Johannes Kulset emerges from foggy Giro stage with a GC comeback

The fifth stage of 2026 Giro d'Italia was a nasty surprise from the ancient Roman gods who have been pouring buckets of water on all competitors throughout the entire day. Ultimately, a strong breakaway was let go by the peloton as GC favourites agreed to a ceasefire on Wednesday. And while the peloton rolled towards the finish line in a rather leisurely pace, Johannes Kulset had other plans for the final hour of today's stage.

Alongside Koen Bouwman (Jayco AlUla) and Andrea Raccagni Noviero (Soudal - Quick-Step), the Uno-X Mobility rider attacked away from the main bunch following the day's decisive ascent with 48 kilometers left to go.

And since neither of them was perceived as a threat to general classification, they were allowed to ride towards the breakaway... even though they ultimately never made the bridge and ended up racing for a seventh place.

"We put in a lot of effort to get into the breakaway early on because on days like this, it can go all the way. I wasn't able to get in, so I wanted to try something at the end, and I think we did it perfectly," Kulset said afterwards.

Despite the rain and hail, the Norwegian insisted on gaining time on the other favorites, ignoring calls from some riders to neutralize the race:

"I think some riders wanted to neutralize the race at the summit because of the weather, but I don't think stopping at the top would have helped. Visibility was really bad on the descent, and without a motorbike in front of us, we couldn't see anything, but I'm really happy that we rode faster than the guys behind."

And just like that, Kulset's situation in GC, which looked rather bleak before stage 5 with a 3-minute margin to main group of favourites, has turned around completely. The young Norwegian now sits 5th overall, five minutes off new maglia rosa Afonso Eulálio, but a minute ahead of the GC favourites.