Mads Pedersen Wins Stage 5 of Giro d’Italia

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Mads Pedersen celebrates race lead on the Giro d'Italia podium
RCS Sport

Mads Pedersen Wins Stage 5 of Giro d’Italia

Mads Pedersen has won stage 5 of Giro d’Italia 2025

After being welcomed on Italian soil in emotional fashion by fans along the route and in towns decorated with pink colors, marvelously decorated carnival vans, and flying umbrellas in Italian colors in yesterday’s stage, the Giro peloton continued its quest on Italian soil with the next stage of this year’s Giro.

Stage 5 of Giro d’Italia was contested in hilly terrain on a 151-kilometer route between Ceglie Messapica in Apulia to the historic mountain village of Matera in the Basilicata region of Southern Italy. Scenes from the James Bond movie No Time to Die were recorded in Matera and, like Bond, riders would be eager to show their masculinity in today’s stage finish. Ancient Romans, Greek colonies, Byzantines, Normans, and the Aragonese once ruled the Basilicata region, before it became part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and later modern Italy.

It was speculated general classification favorites might use the steep eight percent ramps of the stage 5 finale to launch attacks, though the hills were sufficiently short to allow some of the fast riders to remain in contention and activate their explosive powers in quests for the stage win.

Denmark’s Mads Pedersen remained general classification leader after yesterday’s stage and would likely take the opportunity to celebrate having signed a new lifetime contract extension with his Lidl-Trek team. Pedersen was looking pretty in pink in the start zone of today’s stage, though race organizer RCS Sport had still not managed to organize the delivery of a pink speed suit from clothing sponsor Castelli. The pink speed suit that had been custom-made for Pedersen was rumored to have disappeared in Albania.

Primoz Roglic was second in the GC for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, while Mathias Vacek was third, and Brandon McNulty fourth for UAE Team Emirates.

Though stage 5 started in uphill terrain, it did not take long before riders launched breakaway efforts from the main peloton. Team Polti-VisitMalta’s Davide Bais and Giosue Epis (Arkea B & B Hotels) formed a front duo, while Movistar Team’s Lorenzo Milesi launched a counterattack hoping to make the leap to the front duo. Milesi joined the two frontmen, and the trio carried on the hard work together.

Riders from Lidl-Trek and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe were leading the chase effort in the main peloton, while the front trio had an advantage of 02:20 minutes with 130 kilometers yet to be raced before the riders would cross the finish line in Matera.

While the front trio continued its breakaway efforts, a laughing Mads Pedersen won the intermediate sprint of the main peloton and banked additional points for the points competition.

Lidl-Trek riders continued to lead the main peloton closely monitored by riders from Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe. The Lidl-Trek riders were keeping the breakaway trio on a tight leash and the advantage of the front group was down to two minutes when the race was 95 kilometers from the finish line.

Except for a few intermediate sprint challenges, most of the middle part of the stage did not cause any significant developments. Things were almost status quo when the front trio had thirty-five kilometers to the finish line in Matera. At this point the front group still had a lead of two minutes.

Epis was running on fumes in the front trio and got dropped. He was later swallowed by the hungry peloton.

With the stage finale approaching, more teams were eager to send riders to the front of the peloton and a broad front was formed by riders from Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, Jayco-Alula, Lidl-Trek, Ineos-Grenadiers, and Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team.

The first pure sprinters were starting to drop from the main peloton when the climbs started with thirty kilometers remaining. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Corbin Strong, and Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) lost contact while UAE Team Emirates moved to the front of the peloton to contribute to a fast speed on the Montescaglioso climb (Category 2). Jay Vine was setting the pace.

The advantage of the front trio was reduced to forty-five seconds on the climb. Meanwhile, the climb had caused splits in the peloton and riders such as Wout van Aert were struggling to reconnect with the reduced main peloton group.

Some of the chase groups managed to regain contact with the main peloton in the following kilometers. But the strenuous and hilly finale of stage 5 still awaited the riders in this year’s Giro.

The Milesi-Bais breakaway duo was caught with thirteen kilometers left. 

UAE Team Emirates riders were still in front at the ten-kilometer mark and the climbers, general classification favorites, and explosive riders were preparing for the climbs of the hectic stage finale.

Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team riders moved to the front of the race in support of Thomas Pidcock with six kilometers to go. 

Six kilometers remained. EF Education-EasyPost riders were also present along with Lidl-Trek, Alpecin-Deceuninck, Ineos-Grenadiers, and Visma-Lease a Bike. Kaden Groves had survived the climbs of the day until this point.

The final climb before the finish line started with 2.5 kilometers left. Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe riders moved to the front and Primoz Roglic attacked briefly but waited.

Mattias Vacek set a fast pace for Pedersen, but Pedersen found it difficult to hang on to his rear wheel.

Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious) attacked solo with 1.7-kilometers left. 

A small peloton group started the sprint with 900 meters left. 

Mads Pedersen started his sprint, but Edoardo Zambanini was very fast. The Italian rider almost managed to beat Pedersen, but Pedersen kept the other sprinters at bay. 

Mads Pedersen has won stage 5 of Giro d’Italia 2025 for Lidl-Trek in 03:27:31 – it is his third stage victory in this year’s Giro. Edoardo Zambanini finished second for Bahrain-Victorious, while Tom Pidcock completed the stage podium for Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team.

“This was incredibly hard today in the last twenty kilometers,” stage winner and GC leader Mads Pedersen explained to Roadcycling.com after the stage. “This was a really tough one and I wasn’t sure about my chances in the final.” 

“I knew that I was a bit behind at the summit of the climb and I used a lot of energy to move back up on Vacek’s wheel, but luckily, I had enough for the last sprint. It is incredible for me to win in this pink leader jersey and more than I have every dared dream about. We’ll try again in Napoli tomorrow,” Pedersen added.

Denmark’s Mads Pedersen remains general classification leader before tomorrow’s stage 6. Primoz Roglic is second for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, while Mathias Vacek is third and Brandon McNulty fourth.

Thursday’s stage 6 of this year’s Giro will take the riders down from the mountains on a route from Potenza to Naples. The 227-kilometer route is expected to appeal to the sprinters in the Giro peloton.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for complete news and coverage from Giro d’Italia 2025.

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