Giro d'Italia 2020 Stage 5 - As it happened
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Updated 09/10/2020 at 09:11 GMT
Giro d'Italia 2020 live - Follow the ebb and flow of Stage 5 as Filippo Ganna pulled out all the stops to solo to his first ever victory that was not a time trial. The Italian's second stage win of the race for Ineos Grenadiers came as Portugal's Joao Almeida extended his lead in the top of the standings.
Filippo Ganna of Italy and Team INEOS Grenadiers / Salvatore Puccio of Italy and Team INEOS Grenadiers / Breakaway / during the 103rd Giro d'Italia 2020, Stage 5 a 225km stage from Mileto to Camigliatello Silano
Image credit: Getty Images
Here's how Ganna did it
That was Filippo's second win of his debut Giro and the eighth of his career. But most tellingly, it was the 24-year-old's first victory that was not a time trial.
Caicedo drops out of top 10
Jonathan Caicedo cracked on the final climb and so he drops out of the top 10. Those bonus seconds means Almeida is now 43 seconds clear of his nearest challenger, Pello Bilbao of Bahrain-McLaren. Wilco Kelderman is up to third at 49 seconds.
Almeida extends lead!
Austria's Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) leads the chase pack over the line 34 seconds down on Ganna and it's the pink jersey Joao Almeida in third place so the Portuguese will pick up four more bonus seconds to increase his lead in the standings...
Victory for Filippo Ganna!
What a ride there from the Italian debutant, who draws lavish praise from Eurosport commentator Rob Hatch...
Final kilometre
Deceuninck Quick-Step and Mitchelton Scott have come to the front in the thinned out main pack but lone leader Ganna still has 39 seconds as he passes under the flamme rouge. The Italian won the pink jersey after his opening day TT win on Saturday. He was supposed to be riding this Giro in support of Ineos teammate Geraint Thomas but the Welshman's withdrawal has given him the opportunity to take a second stage win in his maiden Grand Tour...
3km to go: Ganna confusion
Filippo Ganna must have a problem with his radio because he's looking over his shoulder and asking what the gap is. The moto cameraman tells him that he still has 43 seconds and that will be music to the Italian's ears. He's on more familiar terrain now as the road flattens. What a ride this has been.
5km to go: Rain lashing down
It's now raining cats and dogs - which will play into Ganna's hands. You don't want to be chasing in a bunch in conditions like these - although, to be fair to Nibali, he's in the safest place on the front and driving the pace.
But they're making no in-roads and Ganna still has 50 seconds as he approaches the end of this long descent.
9km to go: Nibali time
Domenico Pozzovivo led the pack for the first few turns but the piano-playing Italian looked very uncomfortable on some of the turns. Nibali now comes through to do what he does best - and he's really stretched it out behind him.
Ganna still has 50 seconds but he's taking the corners very, very gingerly. Rightly so. Caution is key here - as long as he has enough in reserve for the finale.
11km to go: Ganna over the top
Filippo Ganna goes over the summit and enters dense mist as he starts this decisive descent. He has over a minute to play with as Domenico Pozzovivo and Jakob Fuglsang zip clear near the summit. Further back, Simon Yates has been tailed off by the favourites - not ideal ahead of a descent like this one.
Can Ganna keep his cool? It's hard to tell because the conditions are so demanding, the roads so slippery, and anything can happen...
13km to go: Ganna unstoppable
This is an utterly mesmerising ride from Filippo Ganna of Ineos Grenadiers. He's completely pulverised that chasing duo, who have now sat up and been caught by the pack. It's Astana who have come to the front after Nibali ran out of men. But they still trail the lone leader by 1'10" as the summit approaches. Then we'll have a long descent before the final slight rise to the line. It's going to be an exciting finale, for sure.
14km to go: Brambilla leads chase
The only Trek rider left for Nibali is Gianluca Brambilla now after Giulio Ciccone dropped back. Brambilla continues to pull on the front with Sam Oomen heading the Sunweb train just behind. They trail the lone leader, Ganna, by 1'20". The Ineos rider is putting in an astonishing performance here - he's already opened up a 40-second gap over his chasers, and he's tackling this climb in the big ring and on the drops.
16km to go: Ganna in the gloom
It's got eerily dark as the riders approach a summit clad in mist. The lights of all the race vehicles are on full blast because it's almost like midnight up here. With De Gendt and Rubio continuing to bicker, Filippo Ganna has ridden clear - and in the time trial position. What a ride this is from the Italian today.
18km to go: Five become three
After it comes back together, an acceleration from De Gendt sees Carretero and Zardini dropped, but Ganna and Rubio hold on.
Trek and Sunweb set the tempo in the pack to bring the gap down to 1'10" with Jumbo-Visma and Astana right behind and alert to any moves from the likes of Kelderman or Nibali.
19km to go: Five ahead
Ganna, who is riding ridiculously well for a TT powerhouse, has managed to tap out the watts needed to pull Carretero back. And he's then joined by De Gendt, Rubio and Zardini. So we have five men out ahead. De Gendt then shakes a fist towards Rubio, who he dragged up all the way, and the Colombian responds by stepping on the pedals and dancing clear.
Further back, the pack has caught Puccio and Conti. Tratnik will be next.
21km to go: Carretero, again!
Yes another acceleration from Hector Carretero sees Ganna and Zardini distanced. But De Gendt and Rubio are closing in. They're about to sweep up Zardini and this is looking good for Movistar who have two men in the mix. That said, the pack is now 1'37" down and there's still a whopping nine klicks to go of this climb.
Caicedo dropped!
The Ecuadorian Stage 3 winner Jonathan Caicedo has been distanced on the climb. He's in the blue jersey after his Mount Etna exploits but the pint-sized EF Pro Cycling rider, who was just two-seconds down on GC this morning, is really struggling now.
22km to go: Carretero attacks
The Spaniard from Movistar puts in another dig and Zardini and Ganna are the only two who can keep in touch as Tratnik fades. Behind, De Gendt and Rubio have caught Conti, who latches on, and dropped Puccio. Bouchard, meanwhile, is back with the pack after his brief cameo.
24km to go: Puccio dropped
The break has hit the hardest section of this climb, which peaks at 18%. Ganna's pace is so strong that his teammate Puccio has been dropped along with his compatriot Conti. So we have Ganna, Zardini, Tratnik and Carretero leading with the tailed-off duo about 10 seconds back. De Gendt and Rubio are now only 40" back. The pack, which is now being led by the Trek-Segafredo team of Vincenzo Nibali, is still two minutes down.
26km to go: De Gendt on a mission
It's all De Gendt when it comes to the chase with Rubio so far doing nothing to help out the Belgian. They dropped Restrepo and then swept by De Gendt's Lotto Soudal teammate Hagen, who looks a shadow of the rider who finished in the top 10 of the Vuelta last year. Behind, Bouchard has either dropped - or been dropped by - Guerriero.
The chasing duo is 1'05" down on the leaders, who have two minutes on the Sunweb-led pack.
29km to go: De Gendt goes
Carretero's time out ahead comes to an end after Filippo Ganna big rings the rest of the break back, minus Hagen and Restrepo who have been dropped. Behind, there's another dig from De Gendt, who rides clear with Movistar's Einer Rubio. This duo have already caught Restrepo so that have formed a trio.
Bouchard, again, launches in a bid to bridge over as Sunweb come to the front to set tempo. The peloton is thinning out with many of the sprinters tailed off. Bouchard rides with Ruben Guerriero of EF Pro Cycling.
31km to go: Carretero attacks
Hector Carretero is the first escapee to make a move, the Spaniard riding clear at the start of the climb to open up a small gap. Behind, the first moves come from the peloton. It's Frenchman Geoffrey Bouchard who skips clear. There's a response in the gap as another AG2R La Mondiale rider manages to bridge over with a few others, including Thomas De Gendt and Antonio Pedero of Movistar.
35km to go: Cat.1 Valico di Montescuro
With a gap of three minutes over the peloton, the break hits the start of this long first-category climb. It's 24.2km at an average gradient of 5.6%. Expect it to break up pretty soon because if anyone wants to win from this move they're going to have to get a move on.
36km to go: Hagen wins sprint
It's Carl Fredrik Hagen who wins the intermediate sprint ahead of Jhonatan Restrepo. The Norwegian picks up the three bonus seconds which means he's now 8'20" down on pink jersey Joao Almeida on GC and in 43rd place.
45km to go: Gap continues to tumble
Before the 24km climb of Válico di Montescuro there's the small matter of the intermediate sprint with its bonus seconds. Given no one is a threat in this break, it really will be a small matter. The gap is down to 3'30" though under this increased pressure from Sunweb.
50km to go: Sunweb and Astana party
Team Sunweb and Astana have now come to the front to work for their respective GC men Wilco Kelderman and Jakob Fuglsang. The gap is down to four minutes again, which just goes to show how precarious things are for the escapees even if their lead seems rather large.
Another great stat coming in from the Eurosport TV coverage: yesterday was Sagan's 30th second-place in Grand Tour stages. The Slovakian showman also has 16 stage wins and 16 third places for a total of 62 podium places.
55km to go: Five minutes again
With the peloton easing up, the gap for the leaders returns to the five-minute mark - and unless someone makes a move from behind soon then we will the spoils contested by one of the eight riders out ahead (although we can probably discount the powerhouse Ganna, who is likely to be dropped on the climb).
58km to go: Conti drops back for a puff
Valerio Conti drops back from the break for a visit to the UAE team car, from which he retrieves an inhaler which he slips into his pocket before waving away the TV cameras in a mildly irate and borderline agricultural fashion. Can the 27-year-old finally win a maiden Giro stage today? He won on the 2016 Vuelta but accepted the maglia rosa over a Giro stage win last year.
60km to go: Meintjes off the back
There are some splits in the peloton following that descent and little Louis Meintjes has been caught out. The South African is 2'01" down in 19th place on GC but he looks to be in a bit of trouble as the road ramps back up on a short climb ahead of the major test of the day.
Jumbo-Visma and Astana are on the front of the peloton, with the break now at 4'40". Meanwhile we have many other riders further off the back, including yesterday's winner Arnaud Demare.
65km to go: Problem for Tratnik
It's been a stellar season for Slovanians what with Pog and Rog ruling the Tour and the latter making up for the former's win in France by his last-gasp Liege-Bastogne-Liege victory on the weekend. Can Jan Tratnik get in on the act?
The Bahrain-McLaren rider has a mechanical issue and needs to stop to sort out his chain. He manages to fight back on to the break, though, and the dream is still alive. Earlier, Valerio Conti was struggling to stay in touch on a gritty descent. That's telling because today's winner will have to be able to descent well because the finish comes 10km after the summit of the final climb.
Can Ineos bounce back?
Talking of Thomas - this time, Geraint - Ineos Grenadiers are looking for a morale-booster following the withdrawal of their Welsh team leader. Given the terrain between now and the finish, they perhaps haven't got the right riders in this move.
Ganna is the only Grand Tour stage winner in this break, but he only ever wins against the clock. Meanwhile, Puccio has never won a professional race in his life - although he hadn't had many opportunities...
Returning to Thomas and his latest Giro heartbreak in what has been a season of setbacks... how can the 34-year-old turn things round from here, and what does the future hold for him?
70km to go: Another Thomas withdraws
We're hearing that Groupama-FDJ are down to seven riders now after Frenchman Benjamin Thomas has pulled out. He's ill apparently - but doesn't have Covid, according to a test he took yesterday. So, he becomes the second Thomas in as many days to call it quits.
75km to go: Jumbo-Visma to the fore
Tony Martin has come to the front with teammate Steven Kruijswijk and another Jumbo bee. They have upped the tempo and that has seen the break's advantage come down to four minutes. The reason why the German veteran has come to the front is because there's a long, twisting and potentially dangerous descent ahead - and Martin is ever attentive to the risks.
And in the sudden spike of mild chaos, a rider has gone down - it's Eduardo Sepulveda of Movistar. Poor chap, he went down yesterday in that incident which saw Pieter Weening hit the deck and, today, withdraw.
80km to go: Brown wins De Brabantse Pijl
Elsewhere, three days after finishing runner-up in Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Australia's Grace Brown has just soloed to glory in De Brabantse Pijl.
86km to go: Same old, same old
No change in the dynamic of the race with this eight-man move still holding five minutes on the pack. We have three Giro debutants in the break in Ganna, Hagen and Restrepo. Meanwhile, there are three riders here who have never won a pro race: Puccio, Hagen and Carretero. For 31-year-old Puccio, so often a domestique to one of Ineos' GC riders, this could be a good opportunity to break his duck.
The Slovanian Tratnik, conversely, has the most pro wins of these eight riders: eight. Ganna is one behind on seven, albeit all in time trials.
98km to go: Wet roads
It's just a drizzle now but the roads are wet and slippy and the peloton is taking no chances. That keeps the gap above five minutes for the break, whose chances of going the distance have gone up. That said, there's hardly a flat bit of road between now and the finish - and there's still a long way to go.
Back in the pack and the rain capes have come out. It's pretty grim out there.
105km to go: Five-minute feed
The riders in the break are picking up musettes from the feed zone as they negotiate this long rolling plateau before the road drops down to the foot of the main climb of the day. Their gap is up to 5'10" now which is the largest it's been. Conti, in my eyes, is the dangerman here. He's never won a stage on the Giro before although last year became the first rider from Rome to don the maglia rosa after coming second in stage 6, won by compatriot Fausto Masnada.
Conti is a solid climber but will face competition from Hagen, Carretero, Puccio and Zardini here - should the break go the distance. More rain falls now - and we're hearing that the forecast isn't good for the finish, where it's windy and rainy and quite cold.
112km to go: Zardini doubles up
Once again it's that man Zardini who zips clear to take maximum KOM points ahead of Carretero. That puts the Italian up to 18pts in the blue jersey standings - level with compatriot Gio Visconti and joint second place behind Caicedo.
115km to go: Weening withdraws
We're hearing news that Dutch veteran Pieter Weening has withdrawn from the race. The 39-year-old - the oldest man in the race - crashed yesterday (see video below) after clipping a stray water bottle. He looked quite unsure on his feet in the immediate aftermath but managed to complete the stage.
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Weening runs over bottle, swerves into rival, both crash
But his Trek-Segafredo team have just announced that Weening had abandoned because of dizziness today. You can't argue with that. It's a huge blow for Vincenzo Nibali, who Weening came out of retirement for in order to be a key mountain lieutenant in this Giro. Let's hope for a full and swift recovery.
118km to go: Down comes the rain
With the gap almost reaching five minutes, Deceuninck Quick-Step up the tempo a little in the pack to see it come down a little. Then the rain starts to pound down. Pound is perhaps a bit of an overstatement - it's more of a drizzle. But it's windy and the sky is grimly grey, so we can expect the conditions to worsen in all likelihood.
A reminder of the make up of our eight-man move: Ineos duo Filippo Ganna and Salvatore Puccio, Carl Fredrik Hagen (Lotto Soudal), Jan Tratnik (Bahrain-McLaren), Jhonatan Restrepo (Androni-Giocattoli), Hector Carretero (Movistar), Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates) and Edoardo Zardini (Vini-Zabu).
122km to go: Cat.3 Tiriolo
The break is onto the second categorised climb of the day, this 10.1km slog at 5.3%. The gap has got bigger because Almeida, the maglia rosa, just pulled to the side of the road to answer a call of nature, which resulted in the peloton easing up.
125km to go: Deceuninck Quick-Step in control
Back in the peloton, which trails this break by 3'40", it's the Quick-Step teammates of the pink jersey Joao Almeida who set the tempo on the front. There are some solid riders in this break - most notably Valerio Conti - but unless they stretch out their lead, it's hard to see one of them staying out to contest the victory today.
Here's our man Matt Stephens at the finish with some of his inimitable thoughts...
133km to go: Zardini bags KOM points
The summit of this Cat.3 climb comes in the town of Catanzaro and the break are riding over some fancy flagstones down the main street lined with occasionally masked fans in the old town centre. It's Zanini who darts clear of Carretero to take the maximum nine KOM points over the top. The Ineos duo are next to go over the top, with the gap back to the peloton a shade under four minutes.
140km to go: Cat.3 Catanzano
With a gap of over four minutes, the eight-man break are approaching the first categorised climb of the day, which is 3.5km long at 5.4%. None of the escapees have yet to notch a point in the blue jersey standings so it will be interesting to see who targets the summit here.
150km to go: Restrepo wins sprint
The Colombian takes the spoils in the break - and with points only up for grabs for the first eight, there's nothing left for the sprinters to scrap over when the peloton comes through, so Peter Sagan won't extend his lead in the maglia ciclamino standings. The Slovakian was active earlier today and tried to forge ahead with Thomas De Gendt - a good breakaway ally in any year except 2020, it seems - but it came to nothing.
Days since their last win...
Here's a stat for you: it's now 864 days since Chris Froome last won a bike ride. Other riders without a win in over 800 days are Dan Martin, Tom Dumoulin and Geraint Thomas, while Vincenzo Nibali, Peter Sagan and Alejandro Valverde have all gone well over a year since their last victory, as have Philippe Gilbert, Greg van Avermaet and Elia Viviani.
160km to go: Three minutes
No wonder it took a while for the break to form: the race covered a stonking 51.2km in the opening hour. Things have settled now, that move - which formed on an uncategorised climb - now stretching out its lead to three minutes as they negotiate some downhill roads towards the intermediate sprint.
170km to go: Eight now clear
The Ganna-Puccio group is joined by Jhonatan Restrepo (Androni-Giocattoli), Hector Carretero (Movistar), Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates) and Edoardo Zardini (Vini-Zabu). So we have eight ahead now with a gap of around 1'20" on the pack. The best placed on GC is the Norwegian Carl Fredrik Hagen, who is 8'23" down. He enjoyed a superb debut Vuelta last year ghosting to eighth overall.
180km to go: Ineos insistent
A new four-man move features Ineos duo Filippo Ganna and Salvatore Puccio. The British team clearly want to have a piece of the action today following Thomas' withdrawal yesterday. They still have Tao Geoghegan Hart for an outside GC hope, but their best bet is to pick up stage wins from now.
The other two riders in the move are Carl Fredrik Hagen (Lotto Soudal) and that man Tratnik again. They have another group trying to bridge over and it's still very touch and go.
185km to go: Six-man move
De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) and Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) have opened up a gap with Cameron Meyer (Mitchelton-Scott), Jan Tratnik (Bahrain-McLaren), Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers) and Nico Denz (Team Sunweb). But their advantage is very small and the peloton does not seem happy to let this one go.
190km to go: De Gendt in the mood
Breakaway king Thomas De Gendt joins Sagan but their gap is minimal. Once reeled in, both riders go again and this time is sparks a reaction from a few others.
195km to go: Sagan on the move
Today's stage doesn't exactly seem to be suited to the Slovakian's strengths, but he's giving it a go all the same. Sagan is clearly after those intermediate sprint points and, once Frapporti's attack came to nothing, he skipped clear with a couple of others. The gap is small though.
202km to go: Frapporti attacks
Good old Marco Frapporti - if you can rely on anyone attacking during a long Giro stage, it's him. He's the Guillaume van Keirsbulck or Yoann Offredo or Frederik Backaert (or any number of Wanty riders past and present) of the Giro. In any case, the 35-year-old was on the offensive yesterday, and is once again today.
Interesting fact: Frapporti has never finished higher than 13th place in any stage of all seven of the Giri he has ridden to date...
210km to go: No movement in the peloton
An early start for the riders does not translate to much early action as the pack still rides along as one ahead of the inevitable breakaway attempts. The first intermediate sprint after 80km and before the climbs may keep a lid on things for the first couple of hours. Let's see.
220km to go: Jerseys reminder
Portugal's Joao Almeida (Deceuninck Quick-Step) is in pink with a two-second advantage over Stage 3 winner Jonathan Caicedo (EF Pro Cycling) and 39 seconds over Spain's Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-McLaren).
Peter Sagan's second runner-up spot yesterday was enough to put the Bora-Hansgrohe rider into the maglia ciclamino. He has a five-point lead over yesterday's winner, the Frenchman Arnaud Demare, and 30pts over Stage 2 winner Diego Ulissi of UAE-Team Emirates.
Almeida leads the youth standings but we have the Belgian Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal) in white, while Caicedo's win on Etna gave him a commanding lead in the blue jersey standings.
225km to go: They're off!
An early start sees the riders roll out of Mileto at 10.30am CET so, while today's stage is a long one, it should all be done and dusted in time for tea. Just the one non-starter today - the unfortunate Luca Wackermann of Vini-Zabu. The Italian was one of two riders caught up in that totally avoidable and needless incident involving a race helicopter blowing barriers across the road on the finishing straight yesterday. More information below...
Ciao ragazzi!
Good morning - and it's an early start today for this, the longest stage in this year's Giro d'Italia. The 225km slog goes up and down all day, and although there is only three official categorised climb, this undulating slog through Calabria features 4,700 metres of climbing in total, which will put the GC hopefuls on red (or should that be pink?) alert.
Here's what's on the menu...
Stage 4 Recap
Frenchman Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) picked up his eleventh win of the season in a fiercely contested bunch sprint finale on the Sicialian coast ahead of Slovakia's Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and the Italian Davide Ballerini (Deceuninck Quick-Step).
In a crazy, messy conclusion to Stage 4, Sagan opened up the sprint and looked to have netted a maiden stage win on the Giro – and a first victory in over 15 months – only to be denied by the in-form Demare's superior lunge.
After a painstaking wait, Demare's victory was confirmed as Sagan was forced to settle for second place and the maglia ciclamino, which he took from the shoulders of Italian Diego Ulissi.
It was a difficult day for Ulissi's UAE-Team Emirates after their sprinter Fernando Gaviria was distanced on the day's major climb at the mid-point of the 140-kilometre stage, the Colombian failing to rejoin the peloton despite a prolonged chase by his teammates.
Italians Ballerini, Andrea Vendrama (AG2R La Mondiale) and Elia Viviani (Cofidis) completed the top five as Portugal's Joao Almeida (Deceuninck Quick-Step) safely finished in the pack to retain the pink jersey.
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Highlights: Demare edges three-way photo finish, more bidon drama
How to watch the Giro d'Italia live– TV & live streaming
The 103rd edition of the Giro d'Italia will be shown live on eurosport.co.uk and the Eurosport App.
Each day the Euosport Player and the Eurosport app will stream uninterrupted coverage of each stage. We will also have rolling coverage online on eurosport.co.uk and our social channels.
And don't forget, we are bringing you daily podcasts from the Bradley Wiggins Show - check in with your podcast platform of choice each evening.
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