Stage Five of the Giro saw the Groupama-FDJ team deliver Arnaud Demare perfectly to claim his first victory of the year – and the beautiful maglia ciclamino. The French speedster survived a climb which took hot favourites Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) and Lotto-Soudal’s Caleb Ewan out of contention with 100km to go. Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates and Israel Premier Tech’s Giacomo Nizzolo joined him to complete the podium. There was little change in the GC with Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek-Segafredo) retaining the pink jersey for another day. In other news from Messina, local hero Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Qaxaqstan) announced his retirement from the sport at the end of the 2022 season.
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