14-05-2025
Mads Pedersen keeps Giro d'Italia pink jersey after sprinting to victory on stage five
Lidl-Trek rider Pedersen took his third stage win of this year's race after a late charge over the closing kilometre to edge out Edoardo Zambanini, with Britain's Tom Pidcock given third place for Q36.5 Pro Cycling.
The 151km stage, which started from Ceglie Messapica, had seen a three-man breakaway from Giosue Epis, Davide Bais and Lorenzo Milesi.
The peloton, though, slowly pulled them back in, reducing the gap on Bais and Milesi down to around 35 seconds heading into the final 20km.
Pedersen appeared to be struggling to hold the pace, but after being helped on by team-mate Mathias Vacek, the Dane suddenly found the needed sprint on the uphill finish to hit the front and kept his position to claim another stage victory.
Ireland's Sam Bennett finished at the back of the peloton in 178th place on the stage, 14 minutes behind while Darren Rafferty fared slightly better finishing 111th, five minutesand seven seconds behind the winner's group.
In the general classification standings, Danish rider Pedersen now has a 17-second lead over race favourite Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) with Vacek in third while Rafferty also lies in 111th overall with Bennett 155th.
Stage six runs from Potenza to Naples over a 227km route, the longest of the Giro 2025, which includes 2,500 metres of climbing.
