Arnaud Démare won the fifth stage of the Giro d’Italia on Wednesday. The Frenchman was clearly the fastest in the bunch sprint, in which Mathieu van der Poel could not play a significant role.
Démare, with the help of his teammates, had returned to the pack after having to unload on the only climb of the day to the top of the Portella Mandrazzi. In the bunch sprint, the sprinter was dropped off by Ramon Sinkeldam.
Démare completed his team’s work perfectly and beat Fernando Gaviria in the sprint. Van der Poel was unable to find a good position and was unable to play a significant role in the battle for daily success. He also lost the purple points jersey.
Top favorites Mark Cavendish and Caleb Ewan were missing in the bunch sprint. Partly due to an acceleration of Alpecin-Fenix, they had to release just like Démare on the 19.5 kilometer long climb on the Portella Mandrazzi.
It was a trouble-free stage for rose jersey wearer Juan Pedro López. The Spaniard is 39 seconds ahead of number two Lennard Kämna in the general classification. Simon Yates is in fourth place with a deficit of 1.42 minutes the highest classified man.
The Giro d’Italia continues on Thursday in mainland Italy. The peloton awaits a flat stage of 192 kilometers from Palmi to Scalea.