Category: Caleb Ewan

Demare, who fought back into contention after being dropped on the same ascent, held off Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) in a tight finish after the Colombian appeared to be hampered by a gearing issue on the home straight.

Italy’s Giacomo Nizzolo (Israel-Premier Tech) took third place ahead of compatriot Davide Ballerini, the only Quick-Step rider who had not dropped back to try and nurse Cavendish, the Stage 3 winner, back into the fold.

Demare’s victory was the sixth of his career in the Giro and saw him move ahead Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) at the top of the maglia ciclamino standings after the Eritrean youngster was forced to settle for fifth place in the sprint having been boxed in by the barriers.

Spain’s Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek-Segafredo) finished safely in the main field to retain the maglia rosa before the race heads across the Strait of Messina and onto the Italian mainland ahead of Stage 6.

“What can you do? You’ve got to try,” Cavendish said after a frustrating day in the saddle. “In a different situation we would have probably come back. We were 30 seconds behind FDJ and Caleb [Ewan] was behind us. Ironically, if all of us were together, we’d probably have got back. It’s just how it is.

“The boys did everything and I’m so proud of them – but in the end, what can you do? We tried. You’re always disappointed but we knew that was going to happen today – it was a bonus if we could sprint today. We’ll try again.”

The day’s only climb provided the fireworks with just over 100 kilometres still left to ride when a handful of the fastmen found themselves distanced after some hefty tempo-setting from the Alpecin-Fenix team of maglia ciclamino Mathieu van der Poel and Girmay’s Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert.

Prior to the Cat. 2 Portella Mandrazzi, the 174km stage from Catania had been low on drama as the riders hugged the scenic east coast of Sicily and a break of five riders opened up a maximum gap of four and a half minutes.

Two familiar faces featured in the move in the form of team-mates Mattia Bais and Filippo Tagliani, the Drone Hopper-Androni Giacattoli duo who also featured in breakaways in the two road stages in Hungary. They were joined by fellow Italians Alessandro Tonelli (Bardiani-CSF-Faizane) and Mirco Maestro (Eolo-Kometa) as well as Finland’s Jaakko Hanninen (Ag2R-Citroen).

Tagliani kicked clear to win the intermediate sprint at Francavilla to extend his run of wins to five from five ahead of the 20km climb where, two years previously, Demare’s Groupama-FDJ team piled on the pressure to distance sprint rival Gaviria in an almost carbon copy of Wednesday’s stage.

And it was a case of history repeating itself as a similar tactic was employed – but this time at Demare’s expense. Before the Frenchman was tailed off, the elastic snapped for both Australia’s Ewan and Britain’s Cavendish, who saw his hopes of a 17th stage win on the Giro slowly evaporate in the Sicilian heat.

While Demare was within striking distance going over the summit with around 100km remaining, Cavendish found himself over two minutes behind while Ewan was almost four minutes in arrears. Both chase groups battled on before calling it a day with around 40km remaining.

At this point the breakaway had long since been consigned to the scrapheap – the upping of the tempo on the long descent off the back of the climb bringing the counter back to zero.

Sniffing out an opportunity, Nizzolo’s Israel-Premier Tech team helped with the pacing along with Van der Poel’s Alpecin Fenix and Gaviria’s UAE team – and they were soon joined by Demare’s Groupama-FDJ once the Frenchman rejoined the peloton ahead of the finale.

The absence of his regular lead-out man Jacopo Guarnieri was no deterrent to Demare, who surged clear in Vincenzo Nibali’s hometown of Messina to return to winning ways – thanks, in part, to Gaviria’s gearing issue.

“I’m really disappointed because I had good legs and I felt strong after the climb,” said Gaviria, who wouldn’t elaborate on the mechanical issue which held him back after he had lost the wheel of his leadout man Max Richeze.

Despite their heavy presence on the front of the pack during the stage, Alpecin-Fenix did not contest the bunch sprint with Van der Poel content to keep his power dry for future opportunities on mainland Italy. This despite the withdrawal on Tuesday of the team’s designated sprinter, Jakub Mareczko.

Thursday’s 192km Stage 6 from Palmi to Scalea will give the likes of Cavendish and Ewan an immediate opportunity to bounce back in what is expected to be another sprint finish.

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An enthralling fifth stage in Sicily saw favourites Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) distanced on an early climb before France’s Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) powered to victory in Messina.

Demare, who fought back into contention after being dropped on the same climb, held off Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) in a tight finish after the Colombian appeared to be hampered by a gearing issue on the home straight.

Italy’s Giacomo Nizzolo (Israel-Premier Tech) took third place ahead of compatriot Davide Ballerini, the only Quick-Step rider who had not dropped back to try and nurse Cavendish, the Stage 3 winner, back into the fold.

Demare’s victory was the sixth of his career in the Giro and saw him move ahead Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) in the maglia ciclamino standings after the Eritrean rider was forced to settle for fifth place after being boxed in by the barriers.

Spain’s Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek-Segafredo) finished safely in the pack to retain the maglia rosa before the race heads across the Strait of Messina and onto the Italian mainland ahead of Stage 6.

More to follow…

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Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) were among the big names dropped on the only serious climb on Stage 5 at the Giro d’Italia – with the pair left with too much to do to get back in contention for the sprint.

An otherwise flat stage in Sicily was interrupted by the Cat. 2 Portella Mandrazzi climb, with pre-stage favourites Cavendish and Ewan among those distanced as the pace was ramped up by Alpecin-Fenix.

Alpecin-Fenix are all in for Mathieu van der Poel in the sprints after losing their main sprinter Jakub Mareczko on Tuesday. Given the Belgian’s all-round prowess, they tried to distance the fast men as the race went uphill.

The attack came halfway up the climb and although Cavendish quickly slipped off the peloton, five Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team-mates immediately came to his aid and fanned across the road to protect him.

“That pace setting has had an immediate effect on Cavendish. But look how well surrounded he is,” said Rob McEwen, winner of 12 stages at the Giro, on Eurosport commentary.

“They knew this was going to be the case. They were probably surprised that it took this long on the climb for someone to take it up and try to get rid of him.

“I think they [Alpecin-Fenix] really did wait a long time – on a 19km climb, they waited until 10km of climbing.

“It would have already started to have an effect on the legs of Cavendish, but waiting this long to open a gap? He [Cavendish] has plenty of team-mates there and they are up for the chase.”

Ewan cut a far more lonely figure as just one team-mate stayed with him, with the Australian leaking more time than Cavendish.

“Lotto do it a little bit differently to Quick-Step, who are happy to stay immediately with Cavendish,” continued McEwen.

“I think Caleb says to the guys ‘see you at the top of the climb, get there and we’ll get together’. So if they need to, they will even pause at the top, stop completely, clip out and wait until Caleb gets there. But he’s a very long way behind Mark Cavendish at this point, which is a surprise.”

The Cavendish group was around three minutes back at the summit, just shy of 100km from the finish, with the Ewan collective another two minutes adrift. And so the chase began.

With 60km remaining, fancied Frenchman Arnaud Demare returned to the main pack as his Groupama-FDJ colleagues immediately set about driving on the pace to prevent Cavendish and Ewan latching back on.

With Groupama continuing to drive on the pace, Cavendish and his crew gave up the chase with 50km to go. Ewan’s Lotto Soudal crew quickly followed.

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Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) were among the big names dropped on the only serious climb on Stage 5 at the Giro d’Italia – with the pair left with too much to do to get back in contention for the sprint.

An otherwise flat stage in Sicily was interrupted by the Cat. 2 Portella Mandrazzi climb, with pre-stage favourites Cavendish and Ewan among those distanced as the pace was ramped up by Alpecin-Fenix.

Alpecin-Fenix are all in for Mathieu van der Poel in the sprints after losing their main sprinter Jakub Mareczko on Tuesday. Given the Belgian’s all-round prowess, they tried to distance the fast men as the race went uphill.

The attack came halfway up the climb and although Cavendish quickly slipped off the peloton, five Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team-mates immediately came to his aid and fanned across the road to protect him.

“That pace setting has had an immediate effect on Cavendish. But look how well surrounded he is,” said Rob McEwen, winner of 12 stages at the Giro, on Eurosport commentary.

“They knew this was going to be the case. They were probably surprised that it took this long on the climb for someone to take it up and try to get rid of him.

“I think they [Alpecin-Fenix] really did wait a long time – on a 19km climb, they waited until 10km of climbing.

“It would have already started to have an effect on the legs of Cavendish, but waiting this long to open a gap? He [Cavendish] has plenty of team-mates there and they are up for the chase.”

Ewan cut a far more lonely figure as just one team-mate stayed with him, with the Australian leaking more time than Cavendish.

“Lotto do it a little bit differently to Quick-Step, who are happy to stay immediately with Cavendish,” continued McEwen.

“I think Caleb says to the guys ‘see you at the top of the climb, get there and we’ll get together’. So if they need to, they will even pause at the top, stop completely, clip out and wait until Caleb gets there. But he’s a very long way behind Mark Cavendish at this point, which is a surprise.”

The Cavendish group was around three minutes back at the summit, just shy of 100km from the finish, with the Ewan collective another two minutes adrift. And so the chase began.

With 60km remaining, fancied Frenchman Arnaud Demare returned to the main pack as his Groupama-FDJ colleagues immediately set about driving on the pace to prevent Cavendish and Ewan latching back on.

With Groupama continuing to drive on the pace, Cavendish and his crew gave up the chase with 50km to go. Ewan’s Lotto Soudal crew quickly followed.

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Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) were among the big names dropped on the only serious climb on Stage 5 at the Giro d’Italia – with the pair left with too much to do to get back in contention for the sprint.

An otherwise flat stage in Sicily was interrupted by the Cat. 2 Portella Mandrazzi climb, with pre-stage favourites Cavendish and Ewan among those distanced as the pace was ramped up by Alpecin-Fenix.

Alpecin-Fenix are all in for Mathieu van der Poel in the sprints after losing their main sprinter Jakub Mareczko on Tuesday. Given the Belgian’s all-round prowess, they tried to distance the fast men as the race went uphill.

The attack came halfway up the climb and although Cavendish quickly slipped off the peloton, five Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team-mates immediately came to his aid and fanned across the road to protect him.

“That pace setting has had an immediate effect on Cavendish. But look how well surrounded he is,” said Rob McEwen, winner of 12 stages at the Giro, on Eurosport commentary.

“They knew this was going to be the case. They were probably surprised that it took this long on the climb for someone to take it up and try to get rid of him.

“I think they [Alpecin-Fenix] really did wait a long time – on a 19km climb, they waited until 10km of climbing.

“It would have already started to have an effect on the legs of Cavendish, but waiting this long to open a gap? He [Cavendish] has plenty of team-mates there and they are up for the chase.”

Ewan cut a far more lonely figure as just one team-mate stayed with him, with the Australian leaking more time than Cavendish.

“Lotto do it a little bit differently to Quick-Step, who are happy to stay immediately with Cavendish,” continued McEwen.

“I think Caleb says to the guys ‘see you at the top of the climb, get there and we’ll get together’. So if they need to, they will even pause at the top, stop completely, clip out and wait until Caleb gets there. But he’s a very long way behind Mark Cavendish at this point, which is a surprise.”

The Cavendish group was around three minutes back at the summit, just shy of 100km from the finish, with the Ewan collective another two minutes adrift. And so the chase began.

With 60km remaining, fancied Frenchman Arnaud Demare returned to the main pack as his Groupama-FDJ colleagues immediately set about driving on the pace to prevent Cavendish and Ewan latching back on.

With Groupama continuing to drive on the pace, Cavendish and his crew gave up the chase with 50km to go. Ewan’s Lotto Soudal crew quickly followed.

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