Gaviria inches from victory in Messina

Fernando Gaviria showed a fast sprint to take second place on stage 5 of the Giro D’Italia from Catania to Messina (174km).

The Colombian was well placed in the final but was outpaced by Frenchman Arnaud Demaré (Groupama-FDJ) with Gaviria half a wheel length behind.

Joao Almeida took a two second time bonus through a tactical sprint point at 40km to go with help from his teammates, especially Diego Ulissi. The Emirati team captain now moves up to 7th place on the General Classification as Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek-Segafredo) continues in the Maglia Rosa.

Gaviria : “I felt really good today and I was looked after so well for the whole stage. I had problems with my derailleur in the end and I couldn’t get in the gear I needed. It was a hectic final and I think someones wheel may have touched me from behind. It’s really frustrating and I could not hide it on the line but these are things that can happen in races.
Did it cost me the victory? I don’t know, because Demare was also very strong today. The main thing is the legs are good and we’re really motivated and focussed for another chance tomorrow.”

Tomorrow the race moves to the Italian mainland with another sprint stage from Palmi to Scalea (192km).

Stage 5 results

1.Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) 4:03:56
2.Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) s.t
3.Giacomo Nizzolo (Israel-Premier Tech) s.t

General Classification after stage 5

1.Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek-Segafredo) 18:21:03
2.Lennard Kamna (Bora-Hansgrohe) +39’’
3.Rein Taaramae (Wanty-Intermarche) +48’’
7. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +1’58’’