Colombia cyclist Fernando Gaviria claimed his second Giro d’Italia stage win on Wednesday after a close sprint finish in Messina.
The race’s fifth stage, a 159km course, was geared for the sprinters and Gaviria launched his attack 300m from the line and fended off a strong resurgent attack from Jakub Mareczko of the Wilier-Selle Italia team to claim victory for the Quick-Step team and for Colombia.
Quick-Step played the last 600m to perfection, cutting in from the left to send Gaviria on to a second victory and clear in the sprinter classification leader’s jersey on what is his Grand Tour debut.
Gaviria’s Quick-Step team mate, Bob Jungels, retained the overall race leader’s pink jersey.
Colombia’s Fernando Gaviria wins early lead in Giro d’Italia
Colombia’s Nairo Quintana, a favorite to win the overall classification, had a rough day in northeast Italy suffering from a mechanical problem that left him trailing the peleton.
With the help of his Movistar team mates he rejoined the main group but slipped down a position to seventh in the overall general classification.
Tomorrow’s stage six is the first to take place in mainland Italy and will take the riders on a 207km course to Terme Luigiane.