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Race leader Mads Pedersen claimed another victory after a photo finish on stage five of the Giro d’Italia in Matera.
Lidl-Trek rider Pedersen took his third stage win of this year’s race after a late charge over the closing kilometre to edge out Edoardo Zambanini, with Britain’s Tom Pidcock given third place for Q36.5 Pro Cycling.
The 151km stage, which started from Ceglie Messapica, had seen a three-man breakaway from Giosue Epis, Davide Bais and Lorenzo Milesi.
The peloton, though, slowly pulled them back in, reducing the gap on Bais and Milesi down to around 35 seconds heading into the final 20km.
Pedersen said: “The last 20km was was incredibly hard and I suffered a lot on the last climbs. It was a really tough one and I wasn’t sure [I could win].
“It’s really incredible and to win in this jersey is insane, it’s way more than I ever dreamt about. What a Giro we have and what a team I have around me.”
Pedersen appeared to be struggling to hold the pace, but after being helped on by team-mate Mathias Vacek, the Dane suddenly found the needed sprint on the uphill finish to hit the front and kept his position to claim another stage victory.
In the general classification standings, Danish rider Pedersen now has a 17-second lead over race favourite Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) with Vacek in third.
Stage six runs from Potenza to Naples over a 227km route, the longest of the Giro 2025, which includes 2,500 metres of climbing.
PA
