Today’s stage 5 of Giro d’Italia 2023 was a 171-kilometer ride in hilly terrain from Atripalda to Salerno, located south of Napoli (Naples). The renowned Amalfi coastline stretches further north from Salerno. The parcours favored the sprinters as the climbs of the day were sufficiently easy for the heavy sprinters to tackle them well.

The peloton set out from Atripalda wrapped in their advanced cycling rain jackets because of the rainy weather conditions that awaited the riders.

The hostilities of the day started early as multiple attacks were launched by riders who were hoping to take part in the breakaway of the day. It did not take long before a lasting group of breakaway hopefuls formed. The trio featured Thomas Champion (Team Cofidis), Samuele Zoccarato (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizane), and Stefano Gandin (Team Corratec-Selle Italia). Their advantage over the main peloton peaked at almost three minutes.

With 152 kilometers left of the stage, Remco Evenepoel crashed together with Soudal-QuickStep teammate Davide Ballerini on the wet tarmac. Evenepoel remained sitting on the side of the road for a while and appeared confused, but he eventually got back on his bike and carried on in his World Champion jersey.

110 kilometers from the finale, the lead of the front trio had been reduced to 02:45 minutes by the chasing peloton where Team DSM and Trek-Segafredo had sent their strongmen to the front.

The front trio had a one-minute lead with 60 kilometers left of today’s stage 5.

With 6.6 kilometers left of the stage a crash occurred on the slippery roads at the front of the peloton where sprinter teams were setting up their stars for the final sprint across the finish line. Many riders went down.

With the help of a teammate Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma) managed to bridge to the front group before the finish line.

Two kilometers from the finish line Remco Evenepoel went down again and appeared very aggressive and annoyed.

Team DSM and Alpecin-Deceuninck led the front group in the final kilometer. Kaden Groves launched his furious sprint and Jonathan Milan finished second. Mads Pedersen completed the podium for Trek-Segafredo.

David Dekker (Team Arkea-Samsic) and Mark Cavendish (Astana Team) crashed a few meters before the finish line and Cavendish skid across it and finished fifth.

“So proud of myself today,” stage winner Groves told Roadcycling.com after crossing the finish line. “I crashed in a roundabout with seven kilometers to go. The groups came back together. We all got lost. The guys did a great job for me. It’s a dream to win this stage. The Giro d’Italia is a race I’ve been focusing on since November.”

Team DSM’s Andreas Leknessund remains overall leader of Giro d’Italia 2023.

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