Giro d'Italia: Ulissi sprints to victory on stage 5

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Diego Ullisi (Lampre-Merida) produced a perfectly timed late attack to win the first hilltop stage of the Giro d'Italia in Viggiano after a thrilling final kilometre that saw the overall contenders fight with the stage hunters for victory.

Cadel Evans (BMC) finished second with Julian Arredondo Moreno (Trek Factory Racing) third, one second behind Ulissi. Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) fought to stay near the front in the final kilometre and finished an impressive sixth, retaining the race leader's pink jersey for another day.

Teammate Pieter Weening is second overall at 14 seconds. Evans is now third overall at 15 seconds.

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It was Ulissi's second stage victory at the Giro d'Italia and made up for a disappointing Spring Classics campaign.

"Starting as the big favourite is always difficult. I showed I was ready," Ulissi said. "So I'm enjoying this moment. I wanted this win to against the big names who were up there in the finale of the stage."

"I actually suffered on the descent but felt better on the climb to the line. Rodriguez made a strong attack but my teammate [Przemyslaw] Niemiec helped me position myself well and then I pulled out what I think is a good sprint."

"Sometimes so so-called experts think I can't do well in races over 200km. That's not true. I've won long races. I'm just trying to improve year after year and I think my results have proven it. I'm happy to admit my mistakes and that training at altitude before the Classics left me with heavy legs. But I feel good for the Giro. Now I've got to carry on doing what I'm doing and believe in myself. I think I've shown what I can do and that a new generation of Italian riders is slowly coming through."

A day out in the wind

At the start in Taranto, the riders were happy to see the roads were dry but could feel the strong wind blowing from the west, which meant a headwind for the 70km section along the Ionian coast in the heel of the Italian peninsula.

However the wind did not deter the early attacks, and after several moves were pulled back, the break of the day got away after 22km. There were 11 riders in the move: Elia Viviani (Cannondale), Ben Swift (Team Sky), Tyler Farrar and Fabian Wegmann (Garmin-Sharp), Miguel Angel Rubiano (Colombia), Tony Hurel and Bjorn Thurau (Europcar), Marco Frapporti (Androni Giocattoli), Yonathan Monsalve (Neri Sottoli), Kenny Dehaes and Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto-Belisol).

The peloton let them quickly open a four-minute lead along the flat road near the coast but then kept them under control, with Orica-GreenEdge taking responsibility for the chase. Movistar, Team Sky and Astana also helped with the work.

Swift beat Viviani and Farrar to take maximum points at the intermediate sprint in Domenico Pozzovivo's home town of Montalbano Jonico after 70km, as the sprinters fought for points for the red jersey competition.

The gap rose and fell during the middle of the stage as the break and peloton played a relaxed game of cat and mouse. Rubiano flew the flag for Colombia by being the first to top of the Valico di Serra di San Chirico. The eight-kilometre climb split the breakaway and the descent sparked several attacks, as some in the move tried to boost their chances of stage victory. However the peloton hunted them down with insistence.

Van der Sande and Dehaes tried several attacks and four riders eventually edged away with the other riders, including Swift, Farrar and Viviani eventually dropping back. The peloton swept them up with 23km to go, just before the first climb to Viggiano and the loop in the hills.

The overall contenders and their teammates gathered on the front at this point and the speed increased as the fear of rain, and of the climb and descent, began to worry several big names. BMC rode to protect Evans and Katusha ensured that Joaquim Rodrigeuz was well protected. A crash on the climb only raised the tension as the final breakaways were swept up.

The peloton stayed together on the first climb to Viggiano, but the descent caused some problems as rain made the road slippery. Several riders went down, including Mikal Landa (Astana) and Fabio Felline (Trek Factory Racing).

Gianluca Brambilla (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) was not scared of crashing and went on the attack on the descent. He dived through the corners on the wet descent and opened a 30-second gap. However the Katusha team chased him down on the climb towards the finish.

Rodriguez hit out in the final 500 metres but he went too early. Evans also showed his form but Ulissi took the inside line and with his hands on the drops, he pushed hard on a big gear to open a gap and win the stage.

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