Giro d'Italia 2023 Stage 5 recap: Remco Evenepoel hits the deck twice as Kaden Groves wins chaotic sprint

The three leaders managed to get to the bottom of that descent without any drama while, behind, the peloton continue on its collective downhill taking every corner very gingerly. It's the Trek team of Mads Pedersen and the DSM squad of the pink jersey, Andreas Leknessund, who are on the front and regulating the gap, which is currently 2'30".

We spoke to the Dane Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) who will be one of the favourites today to take the win that will complete his hat-trick of Grand Tour stage wins today. A year ago, he had none. But he's on track for wins in all three Grand Tours in a period of 10 months.

"It's another opportunity today and the game plan is ready for the team, so we try to reach it and get this victory. It wouldn't bother me if it was sunny and dry today. It is what it is. It's the same for all of us. At least it's not eight degrees. We have fifteen degrees so we'll have an okay day and in four hours it will be done. Hopefully we can let a small breakaway go and we can control them with the teams of the other sprinters."

The upshot of that heart-in-mouth moment is that our three escapees - Thomas Champion, Samuele Zoccarato and Stefano Gandin - now have three minutes on the pack as they crest the summit of an uncategorised climb preceding the next treacherously wet and slippery descent. Today's stage is as much about getting through unscathed as it is limiting losses for the vast majority of riders.

The world champion has managed to rejoin the main field after his fall. Many riders are taking a look and checking out his demeanour, wishing him well. Nobody wants to see the favourite crash out in such crazy circumstances. It remains to be seen how he'll now perform - after all, he did stay down for a long time, and we never saw how hard he hit the deck. But at least he's here, back in the pack, and not in the back of the Soudal team car.

The Belgian tyro is back on his bike and chasing - without too much effort - back on. He takes time to give the cameras the thumbs-up which is nice to see. He clearly stayed down on the pavement there as a precaution before getting back on his way. Evenepoel is now surrounded by his Soudal Quick-Step team-mates as they trail the peloton by 45 seconds. As a result of the go-slow, the three-man break has extended its lead - without any effort - to 3'30".

It's unbelievable but it's true: replays show that the incident was caused by a very small dog which ran into the peloton and caused one of Evenepoel's Soudal team-mates to hit the deck in the rain. The world champion was one of several riders who then spilled out in the butterfly affect of the initial fall. He took A LONG time to get up - and it looked, at one point, that we wasn't going to return to the race. But he's back on his bike and on his way, which is great to see.

The world champion is lying in a heap on the side of the road and is taking some time to get back on his bike. Is this the moment he lost the Giro d'Italia? We didn't see what happened there. At first we saw another Soudal Quick-Step rider on the side of the road - then the camera focused on the Belgian, lying on the pavement. He's back on his bike but this doesn't look good.

His job done, Pinot knocks it off and lets the other three riders go clear. He's not the most convincing descender in the best circumstances so it's no surprise to see him ease up and take these slippery corners at a slow tempo while he waits for the peloton. The gap for Thomas, Zoccarato and Gandin is 1'55".

Provided he can make it to the finish, Thibaut Pinot will be in the maglia azzurra tomorrow after the Frenchman crested the summit of the Passo Serra ahead of his fellow escapees. That's another 9pts to his tally, which means he now cannot be caught today. Pinot leads Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Trek-Segafredo) by 12pts now in the nascent KOM standings. The Eritrean came close to taking the jersey yesterday but faded on the final climb of the Colle Molella.

Martin Marcellusi never managed to rejoin the leaders after his crash but Gandin has made the connection so we have two Frenchmen (Pinot and Champion) and two Italians (Gandin and Zoccarato) in the break. They are now onto the Cat.3 Passo Serra (3.9km at 7.4%) with a gap of 1'30" over the peloton, which isn't showing much interest in closing down the move. Can't blame them, to be honest.

Oh no! Marcellusi and Gandin hit the deck on a roundabout after their front tyres lost all grip on the wet - and probably oily - roads. Pinot shows great dexterity and bike-handling skills to avoid their sprawling bodies - and amazingly, no one seems too bashed up by that incident. Although the two riders who went down will need to chase back on the leading trio, with Champion having managed to catch Pinot and Zoccarato. A reminder of the difficulties of those conditions out there...

Italians Martin Marcellusi and Samuele Zoccarato (Green Project-Bardiani CSF), Stefano Gandin (Team Corratec-Selle Italia) and Frenchman Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) edge clear of the pack, with another Frenchman, Thomas Champion (Cofidis) in pursuit. Pinot is here because of the early climb, the Passo Serra, on which he will look to extend his four-point lead in the maglia azzurra competition.

After a slight delay - owing to the slow pace through the sodden neutral zone - the flag goes down and the race is on. A few riders decide to go early, including the blue jersey of Thibaut Pinot...

Here's what's on the menu for today's washout: two Cat.3 climbs (for a total of 18 KOM points) either side of a sprint at almost the highest point of the day. Then another sprint during the fast run into the finish at Salerno, where there will be another 50pts up for grabs in the maglia ciclamino competition - cuerrently being led by Stage 2 winner Jonathan Milan).

Paul Lapeira (AG2R Citroen) became the first rider to abandon yesterday, the Frenchman pulling out because of illness. He took the blue jersey in Stage 2 and wore it for one day before compatriot Thibaut Pinot took over.

Three more withdrawals to report on today. Frenchman Remi Rochas (Cofidis) is sick, ditto Dutchman Ramon Sinkeldam (Alpecin-Deceuninck). Italy's Valerio Conti (Team Corratec-Selle Italia) also crashed badly yesterday, and despite finishing the stage, has been pulled because of a fractured pelvis.

It's another miserable day in Campania with the rain lashing down something rotten as the riders make their way through the neutral zone. "These are horrible conditions - nobody's looking forward to this," says Sean Kelly in the comms box. One saving grace is that it's not too cold: 15 degrees Celsius means Remco Evenepoel isn't wearing leg warmers today.

But the world champion has waited four days to show off his rainbow bands... and now the chance has come, they're hidden beneath a black jacket. The Belgian was in a regulation Soudal skinsuit for the opening TT and then the maglia rosa for the next three stages. He would be in Leknessund's white jersey today but his rainbow jersey takes precedence, ditto Joao Almedia's Portuguese national champion's jersey. So it's fourth place Thymen Arensman who is in white.