Robbie McEwen lauds shock winner Davide Bais at Giro d’Italia: The guy who keeps rolling the dice

Updated 12/05/2023 at 17:34 GMT

The first summit finish of the 2023 Giro d’Italia failed to live up to expectations – but Davide Bais will not care at all. The Italian proved the strongest out of a three-strong breakaway also containing Simone Petilli and Karel Vacek to take the biggest win of his career. Andreas Leknessund will take the pink jersey into the weekend after finishing safely in the bunch.

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After many fruitless days in the breakaway, Davide Bais (EOLO-Kometa) finally got his reward on the big stage with a shock win at the Giro d’Italia on Friday.

Bais slogged it out in a three-strong breakaway along with Karel Vacek (Corratec-Selle Italia) and Simone Petilli (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty), no doubt expecting to hear the familiar sound of the peloton closing in.

Instead, with the GC big hitters reluctant to attack into a headwind and tee up their rivals, the trio were allowed to contest the stage victory otherwise unopposed, with Bais kicking away in the closing stages to take a famous win for Italy.

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Given the lack of fireworks behind, Bais was the main subject of The Breakaway, where 12-time stage winnner Robbie McEwen heaped praise on him for refusing to lose hope.

“I’ve got to be honest, that was a yawnfest back in the peloton," said McEwen. "But you can’t blame the guys out in front, they did what they needed to do.

“Over the last year or so, I’ve commentated on a number of races and watched Davide Bais in, I would say, something like 16-18 breakaways! And none of them have been successful… until today.

“The guy who keeps getting out there, who keeps rolling the dice, putting himself at the front of the race, making those day-long efforts for so long with no reward for so long but now he is a Giro stage winner.”

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Pre-race favourite Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) was expected to come under stern examination after his double crash on Stage 5 – including a run-in with a stray dog – but the big-hitters rode to the first summit finish together on an underwhelming day.

It means Andreas Leknessund (DSM) will keep the maglia rosa for another day. The Norwegian leads Evenepoel by 28 seconds in the general classification.

“What a turn up for the books,” added cycling royalty Sean Kelly. “I don’t think anybody including ourselves here in the race or directeur sportifs had any idea that this group would go all the way to the end.

“But Davide Bais, what a stage win for him. For all three of them to make it to the podium, it’s an unbelievable day, a special day for the guys that were fighting it out for the finish.”

Vacek and Petilli finished second and third respectively.