Quartet of escapees puts a stop to the royal sprint: Benjamin Thomas gives Cofidis its first victory of the season

All the fast men were ready for a generous sprint, but four escapees threw a spanner in the works of the trains. Benjamin Thomas had the fiercest finish and not only gave himself his first WordTour victory, but also Cofidis his first victory of the season. An unexpected triumph.

• Winner of the day: Who would have thought that? On paper this was one of the many sprinters’ opportunities in this Giro, but the attackers were already outsmarted on day 5. Benjamin Thomas was the fastest of a leading group of 4, who stole away halfway through the stage. A major surprise, good for the first victory of the season for Cofidis.

• Losers of the day: What a missed opportunity for the fast men. The early flight was canceled before half the race due to the pounding of Alpecin-Deceuninck on the mountains. There was room for a flight 2.0, with fresh men who were given too much space.

• Remarkable: May 8 and only now the first victor of the year. Cofidis is having a great season, but has managed to close the gap with a Giro stage. It has now won stages in the most recent Tour, Vuelta and Giro.

• Tomorrow: After the piccolo Milan-Sanremo, the Giro peloton will also have another one tomorrow lightversion of the Strade Bianche. In the last 50 km there are 11 km of gravel roads. Does Tadej Pogacar inspire, just like this spring, or is it mainly between the attackers?

The third sprinter’s chance in a row this Giro, although there were still quite a few altitude meters to climb in the initial phase.

Alpecin-Deceuninck, for Kaden Groves, wanted to take advantage of this to drop some fast men. Jakobsen, Ewan, Gaviria and Tim Merlier, among others, got into trouble.

They quickly connected again and, more importantly, the early flight was also quickly booked. An escape 2.0 with fresh men, always treacherous.

That didn’t happen immediately, but after the intermediate sprint 80 km from the finish, a new breakaway of 4 formed. With experienced speedsters Michael Valgren and Benjamin Thomas, you can’t give them too much space.

However, the sprinter teams did. Their maximum bonus of two minutes slowly decreased, too slowly. A number of crashes slowed down the peloton, allowing the fresh attackers to stay in front.

The Italian Andrea Pietrobon seemed to sneakily rush to victory from the breakaway. After a few kilometers in the wheels, he suddenly crashed in the final kilometer.

Enzo Paleni didn’t want that to happen at all costs. Although the young Frenchman did launch his compatriot Thomas to victory. He defeated Valgren in the sprint, good for the first victory of the season for his team Cofidis.

The sprinting peloton came in 11 seconds later, with purple points jersey Jonathan Milan as the first loser. Missed opportunity for the sprinters.

Michael Valgren (2nd): “It was a very difficult ride through Alpecin-Deceuninck at first, but then it became much easier. Then Benjamin Thomas came to me and asked if I was ready to join the attack with some others.”

“There were only 4 of us, or actually 3 and a half, but we worked very well together. It wasn’t until 3 kilometers from the end that I knew we were riding for the win.”

Phase by phase