Casper van Uden (Team Picnic Postnl) surprisingly won the 4th stage of the Giro d’Italia in the mass sprint. When the top sprinters were exchanged for the first time, the Dutch in Lecce prevailed in front of Olaf Kooij (Visma-Lease A Bike). Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) defended the pink jersey of the overall leader. Max Kanter from Cottbus was fifth.
On the first day on Italian soil after the start in Albania, as expected, the sprint final came, but the 23-year-old Van Uden had hardly anyone on his first Grand Tour. On the way to the southernmost point of the tour of 189 km from Alberobello to Lecce, there were only 800 meters to cope with and the only mountain ranking (4th category) after just 16 kilometers.
133 kilometers of solo ride from Francisco Munoz
Despite the flat profile, there was still an outlier. The Spaniard Francisco Munoz (Polti Visitmalta) set off immediately after the start, but he did not find any fellow campaigners. So 23-year-old drove as a soloist for a long time, had almost two minutes ahead after seven kilometers, the three mountain points secured and was the first to secure the intermediate sprint after 146 kilometers.
The Spaniard extended his lead to over four minutes and was put off the field after 56 kilometers before the finish line. A few minutes after the 133 -kilometer escape, the second intermediate sprint followed that Olaf Kooij won ahead of Pedersen and Kaden Groves.
Francisco Munoz on his long solo escape
In the final it went twice about a twelve -kilometer circuit. Pedersen was stopped by a fall 22 kilometers before the finish line, but was able to quickly unlock back to the field. The teams kept the pace on mostly very wide streets so high that there were no more testing.
5. Stage with wavy profile in the final
Also in the 5th stage on Wednesday over 151 kilometers from Ceglie Messapica to Matera there is only a mountain rating of the 4th category on the stage plan. However, the profile in the final is wavy. Lidl-Trek with puncher Pedersen could make life difficult for the pure sprinters.
At the three-day kick-off in Albania, the pure sprinter had already left it twice because the Lidl-Trek team had pulled the plug in the hilly terrain before the final. Mads Pedersen was able to crown the perfect preliminary work with the daily victory on the 1st and 3rd stage.