Giro d'Italia 2016: Stage 5

Welcome to live coverage of stage 5 of the Giro d'Italia from Praia a Mare to Benevento

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Buongiorno from stage 5 of the Giro d'Italia and we're about 30 minutes away from the roll out this morning.

The riders are signing on in Praia a Mare and Tom Dumoulin is back in pink. 

Nibali up on the sign on stage at the moment. He is sixth overall at the moment. Here is a look at how the overall classification stands this morning. 

1 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 14:00:09
2 Bob Jungels (Lux) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:00:20
3 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre - Merida
4 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:24
5 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Giant-Alpecin
6 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:26
7 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:31
8 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:00:35
9 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 0:00:37
10 Jhoan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Col) Orica-GreenEdge

Marcel Kittel is now getting up on stage in the red jersey, after giving over pink to his former teammate yesterday. Today is Kittel's birthday, with the big German turning 28.

Kittel will certainly be looking for a birthday victory today but it's going to be a tough day out with a lot of lumps and bumps to contend with. 

A flood of riders lining up to sign on. Not long until the riders roll out and we get the racing underway. 

Dumoulin spoke to Italian television before the start, saying that there's littel chance he can try for a victory today and he's got his eyes set on the Chianti time trial.

"Today not but on day nine there is a nice time trial and I’m looking forward to that," he said.

"There will probably a bunch sprint and I think that a lot of teams will want that."
 

Sign in is done and dusted and the riders are moving towards the start line. Damiano Cunego is the first of the jerseys to line-up. The former race winner is in the mountains jersey after making it into a late break yesterday. 

Tom Dumoulin and white jersey wearer Bob Jungels have now joined the Italian. Dumoulin giving his power meter a last-minute once over.

And we're off as the riders head through the neutral section. 

A quick reminder of how yesterday's stage finished, with Diego Ulissi claiming his fifth career victory at the Giro d'Italia. 

1 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre - Merida 4:46:51
2 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:05
3 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
4 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:06
5 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Etixx - Quick-Step
6 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
7 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Team Katusha
8 Matteo Busato (Ita) Southeast - Venezuela
9 Jhoan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Col) Orica-GreenEdge
10 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky

As well as Marcel Kittel, we have another birthday boy in the peloton and that is Adam Hansen. Will we see him in the break today and can he take a birthday win?

It's a difficult start to the day today with the first 35km heading uphill to the top of the one and only classified climb of the day Fortino.

Damiano Cunego will have to fend off Nicola Boem if he wants to keep the mountains jersey for another day. Yesterday was the first time in 12 years that Cuengo had stepped on the podium and he says that it made him a bit emotional.

If you missed yesterday's stage or want to remind yourself of how it played out, then check out the highlights right here. 

One of the big losers in the GC battle yesterday was Ryder Hesjedal and the former winner is now 1:27 down on Dumoulin in the overall classification. Hesjedal says that he's not too worried about it just yet. 

We're 14km into today's stage and it is still gruppo compatto. We may have to wait until the top of this climb before a breakaway forms.

As today's stage gets underway, there have been reports about the 2018 Grande Partenza. Rumours that the race could start in Japan have been around for some time but, according to an Italian newspaper, that could be a reality with all but a signature needed to seal the deal. We'll have more on that later. 

Vincenzo Nibali taking a selfie with a fan at the start this morning. 

We're 20km in and still no breakaway has formed. Just 16km to the top of the climb. Who will take the points and who will be in blue tomorrow?

There are seven points available at the top of today's climb so the blue jersey could be snatched by a number of people at the top. Four points are available for second place with two and one for the third and fourth places. Here is how the mountains classification looked at the start. 

1 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Nippo - Vini Fantini 7 pts
2 Nicola Boem (Ita) Bardiani CSF 7
3 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 5
4 Stefano Pirazzi (Ita) Bardiani CSF 4
5 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team 4
6 Omar Fraile Matarranz (Spa) Dimension Data 3
7 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Giant-Alpecin 2
8 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Lampre - Merida 2
9 Julen Amezqueta (Spa) Southeast - Venezuela 2
10 Giacomo Berlato (Ita) Nippo - Vini Fantini 2

Marcel Kittel got what looked like a birthday pie on the sign on podium this morning.

5km to the KOM point for the peloton and then it's a long run down to the first intermediate sprint at Polla. 

Most of the climb has been fairly steady up until now but it really ramps up now in the final few kilometres to the top. 

Mikel Landa was one of the pre-race favourites but the Spaniard had a tough time of it yesterday. He managed to finish with the other GC contenders but says that he had a bad day. You can read what he had to say here. 

Nippo Vini Fantini on the front of the bunch a little while ago at 30km ridden. 

Vini Fantini's efforts paid off and Cunego took the points at the top of the climb. With non of his rivals scoring any he now has a 7-point lead in the classification. 

With the climb over, the attacks have begun. Four riders have now jumped off the front of the group. 

189km remaining from 233km

The riders with a small gap on the peloton are: Daniel Oss (BMC), Alexander Foliforov (Gazprom), Amets Txurukka (Orica-GreenEdge), Pavel Brutt (Katusha).

Apologies Brutt is Tinkoff, rather than Katusha. The four leaders only have a small gap on the peloton who have not yet sat up to let this go. 

The average speed of the peloton in the opening hour of racing is 34.3kph.

It looks like the peloton are now happy to let this one go and the gap to our four leaders is 4:20.

Vincenzo Nibali is one of the best placed GC riders behind Dumoulin. The Italian was in a fighting mood yesterday and decided to put his rival Landa to the test. You can read what he had to say after yesterday's stage right here.

173km remaining from 233km

The gap to the escapees has dropped back down to 2:41 after 60km of racing. 

Serial breakaway rider Amets Txurruka is the best placed in the GC of today's escapees. He's 5:25 down on the pink jersey but he won't mind too much about that with his team leader Esteban Chaves is currently sitting in 10th at 37 seconds down. 

Despite his time spent in breakaways Txurruka is yet to win a Grand Tour stage. The only Grand Tour stage winner in this breakaway group is Pavel Brutt. The Russian rode to victory on stage 5 of the 2008 Giro d'Italia, taking it by four seconds over Johannes Frohlinger in a breakaway ride. 

The gap to the escapees has ballooned up to 5:29, making Txurruka the maglia rosa on the road. 

Should Tom Dumoulin keep hold of his pink jersey today, he will join Peter Weening as a wearer of the jersey for four days. Only Erik Breukink has spent more days in pink with eight in total. 

Courtesy of the BMC team, a picture of the breakaway. As they approach the intermediate sprint, the gap continues to grow and it now stands at more than seven minutes. 

Have you listened to the Cyclingnews podcast yet? If you haven't, click here to listen to our Giro d'Italia preview episode. 

The escapees are through the intermediate sprint to take 20 points. He'll have to take out the second one of the day to move him into equal first place. 

1 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 40 pts
2 Giacomo Berlato (Ita) Nippo - Vini Fantini 21
3 Pieter Serry (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step 10
4 Nicola Boem (Ita) Bardiani CSF 10
5 Omar Fraile Matarranz (Spa) Dimension Data 9
6 Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 6
7 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team 6
8 Johann Van Zyl (RSA) Dimension Data 5
9 Julen Amezqueta (Spa) Southeast - Venezuela 5
10 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 4

The speed has upped with the roads flattening out and the average speed for the second hour of racing was 41kph.

94km remaining from 233km

With less than 100km to go, the gap is now at 6:12 for the four escapees.

It's almost lunch time for the peloton and the gap has gone up to 6:36. There's still a long way to go for the leaders to the finish

Earlier we told you about the reports regarding the Giro d'Italia starting in Japan. You can read the full story here. 

Gazprom-Rusvelo will be delighted that they've managed to get a rider into the breakaway. The Russian team, which is linked to the WorldTour Katusha team, is making its Grand Tour debut at the Giro d'Italia. Foliforov is also making his GT debut after joining the team last season. 

Another shot of the breakaway, courtesy of the organisers. 

118km remaining from 233km

The leaders are on a small ascent as the riders approach the second intermediate sprint of the day. 

Dimension Data have confirmed that Omar Fraile has abandoned the race due to the injuries he sustained in a crash yesterday. That will be a big blow to the team who would have hoped that Fraile could take the mountains classification jersey as he did at last year's Vuelta a Espana. He did, however, wear it for one day after getting in the break on stage 2. 

Daniel Oss has claimed the points again at the second intermediate sprint of the day. He will be joint first with Maarten Tjallingii in the intermediate sprints classification. Unfortunately for both, there is no jersey that comes with this prize as races are only allowed to have four jerseys.

110km remaining from 233km

Through the intermediate sprint and the gap has dropped pretty quickly and is now at 4:27.

The riders are on a small descent and while there are no classified climbs to come there is a lot of up and down to contend with. The sprinters will still be hoping that they can make it a bunch sprint to the line. 

Michele Scarponi is a former winner in Benevento and he spoke to TV reporters about what he expects to happen in today's stage. 

"It was 2009, we went to the line with a bunch of 10 riders and then I won the stage. Today we also arrive in Benevento, but today I’ve got a different role I’m going to be with Vincenzo and the team and we want to go through the day without any problems.

"I think there’s a good chance for the sprinters today. The finale is a bit of an uphill, it’s for everybody. The stage is long and there is a climb, some riders will get into the break. For me, it is going to be a sprint finale but if there are enough riders in the break, the sprinters have got to be careful."

Daniel Oss is missing a bit of his shorts, it seems that he crashed on the decent. He slipped out on a corner and hit a metal fence in the process. He doesn't look too hurt though, perhaps it is his pride that has been hurt more than anything. 

 Oss is up and chasing but is at least a minute down on the attack now. 

We are finally into the second half of the stage and after the second intermediate sprint, the toughest climbs of the stage will begin. However the steady pace of the peloton should mean the stage ends in a sprint.

The teams are riding in blocks. from the Cyclingnews blimp we can see the Astana, BMC and Sky teams all riding together. 

Oss has fought his way back to the break of the day and so we enter the final 90km of the stage, we have four riders up front.

Oss has some nasty road rash but is fighting on.

90km remaining from 233km

The peloton is on huge bridge at the moment but will soon hit the hills.

At the back of the peloton Giacomo Berlato is getting treatment from the race doctor. He went on the attack on the two road stages in the Netherlands but then cut his chin in a training crash on Monday's rest day. He is riding on with three stitches in his chin.

Boy Van Poppel (Trek) is also suffering at the back of the peloton. 

The peloton is slowly pulling back the break as the kilometres tick down. The gap is at 4:50 now. 

The FDJ team has confirmed that Alex Geniez has a wrist injury and is heading home to France for more checks. He quit the Giro d'Italia during Tuesday's stage to Praia a Mare.

All the signs are that today's stage will finish in a sprint but at 233km and a hilly second half will mean a hard day in the saddle. The distance and fatigue could influence the outcome of the sprint. 

Today's stage is the second longest of this year's Giro. Only stage 18 to Pinerolo is longer, at 240km.

The Giant-Alpecin team of race leader Tom Dumoulin is leading the chase, with Cheng Ji on the front. 

@TeamDiData Wed, 11th May 2016 13:23:23

75km remaining from 233km

The break has passed the 75km to go point but their lead is now down to 3:45.

Reports coming through that Jakob Mareczko has abandoned. Mareczko would have been a contender for victory in today's finish if it comes down to a bunch sprint. 

Here is Pavel Brutt, one of today's escapees, giving his bike a final check ahead of the stage. Can he and his fellow breakaway riders stay away from the clutches of the peloton?

Giant-Alpecin are in a long line at the front of the peloton. With the pink jersey to look after, they've been doing most of the work on the front today. 

The riders are heading into the city of Montella a place known for its chestnut groves. 

Andre Greipel has won a stage of every Giro d'Italia he's ridden and he'll be keen to get off the mark as soon as possible. He could do that at the finish today. 

"First of all, it’s a pretty long day, the first 35km are uphill so I think that there is also a chance for a breakaway. We’ll see who controls the breakaway. In the beginning, it’s not for us to do so we’ll just try to hang in there. The final looks pretty good. I hope that I can be there in the final and that we can all be there for the sprint.

"The last kilometre is uphill and on cobbles, for sure it is not going to be easy but I think that a final like this suits me well."

62km remaining from 233km

The gap has been hovering either just above or just below the four-minute mark for quit some time now. Crucially, it means that none of the escapees are within touching distance of the pink jersey for the moment. 

If the slightly uphill nature of the finish, it is narrow and the final 200m is paved with porphyry.

Earlier we mentioned Michele Scarponi being a winner in Benevento in 2009. The Giro d'Italia has finished in the town on several more occasions. Here are some more winners in the city: Costante Girardengo (1925), Adriano Durante (1965), Ercole Gualazzini (1971), Roger De Vlaeminck (1973), Giuseppe Saronni (1978) and Robbie McEwen (2002)

Birthday boy Adam Hansen picking up some bottles from the team car. He's not in the breakaway so he's on team duty for Andre Greipel. 

53km remaining from 233km

The pace is the peloton has definitely picked up and Lotto-Soudal have taken up the front of the bunch with Astana right behind them. That has reduced the gap to just 3 minutes. 

In fact, most of the peloton are now organised in team formation. Lampre-Meirda are just behind Astana with Sky in formation behind them. 

Wilier-Southeast DS Luca Scinto explains that the reason for Jakub Mareczko's abandon earlier was illness. The young Italian woke up with a fever this morning and was suffering as soon as he started. 

Just 2:27 for the escapees now. Lotto-Soudal are in a determined mood at the moment. There is still 48km to go however and they won't want to make the catch too early. 

The riders are currently on the middle time schedule, which means that if they continue like this the stage will finish just after 5pm local time. 

The escapees have obviously had a word in their ears because they're kicking on down this descent and have pushed the gap back out to around 3 minutes. 

Some riders being dropped with the pace being so high on this descent. AG2R-La Mondiale's Blel Kadri is furiously trying to get back on and uses the draft from one of the Giant-Alpecin minis to assist him. 

The peloton is fighting fire with fire and as soon as the break push the gap back out the bunch has cut it down even further. The four leaders have less than two minutes to go with just over 40km to the finish line. 

The road flattens out for the riders but it is slightly downhill for much of the run-in to the line. 

37km remaining from 233km

The peloton is still zipping a long and the advantage of the escapees it just 1:34. Surely the group won't want to catch them just yet. 

As we post that last update, the group has finally knocked it off now that they are onto the flatter roads and there is a little bit of respite for the escapees. 

Away from the men's Giro and the teams have been confirmed for the women's Giro Rosa, which takes place in July. World Champion Lizzie Armitstead has been confirmed as a starter and you can read the full story here. 

Lots of teams are interested in making the chase in this finale. IAM Cycling are also lending a hand on the front.

Andre Amador back at the team car for some mechanical assistance. He's got his power meter dangling from his handlebars. Amador was another loser in terms of time yesterday. 

28km remaining from 233km

The peloton is in one long line again and there are riders struggling to keep in touch with the back. It is Trek that are doing the work on the front with Lotto-Soudal. The gap was down to almost a minute but has come back up a little to 1:25.

Esteban Chaves has kept his nose clean so far during this year's Giro d'Italia and he's sitting in 10th place overall. Chaves is targeting the GC for the first time at the Giro d'Italia but told Cyclingnews this morning that he is trying not to think too far again. You can read what he had to say here. 

With 23km to go the gap has been trimmed down to 1:03.

21km remaining from 233km

It's now just down to 28 seconds with IAM on the front. They will be able to see the breakaway very soon. 

Now just 300 metres separate the two groups and the escapees are beginning to look over their shoulders. They must sense the bunch behind them and no doubt they will have received the news over the radio. 

Giant-Alpecin have been able to sit inside the bunch for the past few kilometres with so many teams putting rides up front but they're now making moves towards the front again along with Team Sky. 

A mechanical problem for Chad Haga. He was relatively high up in the GC and he'll want to make it back to the peloton pretty sharpish. We spoke to Haga earlier in the week and posed some fan questions to the American and you can read what he had to say here. 

Crash

Zilioli is one of the riders down and we've got two riders in a ditch. 

It is Alberto Timmer for Giant-Alpecin and Australian champion Jack Bobridge. 

15km remaining from 233km

A replay shows Zilioli crashing near the back of the bunch, leaving Timmer and Bobridge with nowhere to go. Fortunately they're all up and the injuries don't appear to be too serious. 

A mechanical problem for Majka and this is really a bad time for him to have such a problem. 

Bobridge and Timmer exchanging notes on that crash. There's no rush for them to get back on, they just want to make it home inside the time limit. 

It's getting to squeaky bum time in this stage, as Alex Ferguson would say. Teams are now fighting for space at the from of the bunch as Majka fights his way onto the back. 

11km remaining from 233km

Majka is back in the bunch and now his team are helping him get near the front. With some narrow roads to contend with the GC riders won't want to be too far back in case of a crash. 

With 10km to go, the riders are into Benevento and the break has just 17 seconds. 

Benevento has been decorated for the occasion with streamers all over the place. There are plenty of spectators our lining the street too. 

7km remaining from 233km

LottoNL-Jumbo lead the peloton and they have the escapees in their sights as they enter this finishing circuit. 

It's gruppo compatto now and the riders are getting a chance to look at the finish line for the first time. 

The bell tolls for the peloton and the sprint battle is on. Lots of teams moving up to the front, including a few GC teams. We can see LottoNL-Jumbo, Katusha, Astana, Cannondale, Movistar and AG2R-La Mondiale.

One team that we can't see near the front is Etixx-QuickStep and we're hearing reports that Marcel Kittel has been dropped. 

The news that Kittel has been dropped will spread quickly and the other sprinters will be buoyed by it.

4km remaining from 233km

Andre Greipel is sitting second wheel in the bunch at the moment. 

It is Jurgen Roelandts that is setting the pace on the front of the bunch and he's making it as hard as possible for the other teams. 

Giacomo Nizzolo is making the most of this Lotto-Soudal work and is sitting on Greipel's wheel.

Roelandts is doing some serious damage and there are splits happening in the bunch. 

A Katusha rider crashes with a kilometre to go

FDJ on the front with a few hundred metres remaining

Now Lampre take it up

Demare is fourth wheel and Greipel is now in fifth wheel

Colbrelli goes first but it is Greipel that takes the victory. 

Greipel had a comfortable gap over the rest as he crossed the line. There was nobody that could keep up with the German once he got going. 

That sprint took a lot out of Greipel and he sits on the ground for a moment to catch his breath. 

A replay from above shows that Greipel had a serious gap between himself an Demare in second. He came from quite far back but once he got going there was no stopping him from taking that victory. 

That victory means that Greipel continues his run of winning stages in each Giro d'Italia he has competed in. In fact, the last - and only - time that Greipel has not win a stage in a Grand Tour he's ridden was his debut Grand Tour the 2007 Vuelta a Espana. 

Here is how is finished today

1 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 05:40:35
2 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ
3 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF
4 Bob Jungels (Lux) Etixx - Quick-Step
5 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
6 Manuel Belletti (Ita) Southeast - Venezuela
7 Rick Zabel (Ger) BMC Racing Team
8 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Giant-Alpecin
9 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
10 Alexey Tcatevitch (Rus) Team Katusha

Tom Dumoulin remains in pink after that stage with a 16-second gap over Bob Jungels, who is in the yong rider's jersey. Here is the GC

1 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 19:40:48
2 Bob Jungels (Lux) Etixx - Quick-Step 00:00:16
3 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre - Merida 00:00:20
4 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Giant-Alpecin
5 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 00:00:24
6 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 00:00:26
7 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 00:00:27
8 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Team Katusha 00:00:35
9 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
10 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 00:00:37

This is what stage winner Andre Greipel had to say at the finish. 

“Chapeau to my teammates today. It was hard for them to chase down the break but they continued to work for me even if the other teams didn’t help us,” Greipel said.

“In the sprint I tried not to be blocked in. There was still 300 metres to go but I felt good and decided to go for it. I’m happy to have won like that.”

We're hearing that Landa and Nibali lost a few seconds when the bunch split on that final little climb. Valverde finished in the sprinters' group to make four seconds on his rivals. It's not much but every second counts in this sport. 

Tom Dumoulin is getting his pink jersey, here is what he had to say before stepping onto the podium. 

“It was a really hard day, it was all up and down and it was fast with 4 guys in the break. Then in the final the speed was crazy.”

“Tomorrow we’ve got the first uphill finish. It’s going to be a tough finish and we’ll really find out how everyone form is. We’ll see what happens in the finale.”

Some more from Andre Greipel at the finish today. 

"I think it start up with chasing the breakaway down. Jelle Vanendert kept riding with Giant Alpecin and the other riders didn’t help. We had to gamble a little bit and in the end we used two more riders with Lars Bak and Wellens to chase the breakaway down. The others kept me up front and I tried to stay up on the final lap and Jurgen Roelandts did an amazing job from 5km to the final kilometre to keep me up there. For the sprint, I thought to myself, please don’t get boxed in and I went early but I thought I would give it a go. I saw the gap and I went through, and I gave everything I had in my legs.

"It was really important to stay up there in the front with a lot of corners and downhills, especially the u-turn with 1.5km to go. Jurgen Roelandts did an amazing job to keep me up there in front. Everybody slowed with about 400 metres to go and I thought if I see a gap then I’ll go through. I have good legs today and even though the team is a big part of it I think that I did a god sprint today."

Marcel Kittel is still in red but he lost some time today. Here is what he had to say at the finish. 

"It was a very hard day today. There was a lot of climbing today so it wasn’t a normal sprint. I just wasn’t strong enough today, so I want to congratulate Greipel and his team. They deserved to win."

Here is Greipel taking his victory today. 

We've got photos, results and a report already from today's stage and you can find them all here. 

Tomorrow is the first summit finish of the race. Take a look at what to expect with our preview here. 

An image of Jack Bobridge being dragged out of a ditch, despite his crash he finished eight minutes down on the winner. 

Read through what some of the riders had to say at the finish of today's stage here. 

That is it from us today at the Giro d'Italia. We'll have plenty of reaction later and keep tuned for live coverage of tomorrow's stage.