Cycling-Benjamin Thomas wins Giro stage five after breakaway holds off peloton
(Reuters) -French rider Benjamin Thomas outsprinted his breakaway colleagues to win the fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia on Wednesday, giving the Cofidis team their first victory this year.

The four-man break escaped the peloton after the final intermediate sprint of the day, with 80km left to ride, and held off the chasing pack despite the best efforts of the main sprint contenders' teams.

Thomas is a two-time omnium and madison world champion and his track background helped him in the breakaway.

"It was like a long, long, long team pursuit," Thomas said.

"We did an amazing break and I don't believe it. It was really hard in the finale, every pull was full gas. It's unbelievable."

Italian Andrea Pietrobon (Polti-Kometa) looked set to reach the line first after the 178km ride from Genoa to Lucca, but his push for victory inside the last kilometre came too early, and he was caught before the finish.

"I have taken the risk to lose when the Italian rider rode solo. Maybe it was my destiny to take my first big win in Italy where I live and I'm glad to deliver the first win for Cofidis," Thomas said.

Pietrobon had to settle for third place, with Denmark's Michael Valgren (EF Education-EasyPost) coming in second behind Thomas who won his first Grand Tour stage. Tadej Pogacar still holds the overall lead.

An earlier break of four riders was reeled in just after the top of the first climb of the day, with Alpecin-Deceuninck pushing the peloton for their sprint hope Kaden Groves.

Another sprint finish was expected, before the decisive second breakaway, which made it to the top of the second and final climb of the stage, and had almost a minute to spare as they hit the final 20km roll into Lucca.

"With 10km to go, with 50 seconds, I started to think that we could go for the win. With the tailwind, we could play with the bunch," Thomas said.

The main group arrived on the line 11 seconds behind the winner, with Pogacar safely in the top 30, maintaining his 46 second lead over Geraint Thomas of Ineos Grenadiers.

"It was an interesting day today. The last hour or so was very fast. It was very tense coming to Lucca," Pogacar said.

"The breakaway stayed in front because it was a late breakaway. Tomorrow will be a stage to be careful and not lose any time."

Thursday's stage six will take the riders 180km from Viareggio to Rapolano Terme.

(Reporting by Trevor StynesEditing by Christian Radnedge and Toby Davis)
(Reuters) -French rider Benjamin Thomas outsprinted his breakaway colleagues to win the fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia on Wednesday, giving the Cofidis team their first victory this year.