Mads Pedersen takes his third victory in the Giro d'Italia 2025

Exciting finish to the stage at the Giro d'Italia 2025, which arrived in the beautiful city of Matera with one of those traps that the Corsa Rosa usually includes in its route. An arrival that seemed destined for the victory of a cyclist of a different profile, but in which Mads Pedersen made the most of his tremendous form to survive a tough terrain and impose his speed in a sprint of a very reduced group.

Lidl-Trek once again shows its power to lead Mads Pedersen to a new victory in the Giro d'Italia

Fifth stage of the race heading towards the south of Italy, specifically towards the city of Matera, after a route of just 151 kilometers that started at lunchtime in the town of Ceglie Messapica. The route was practically flat until less than 30 kilometers to the finish where the ascent to the town of Montescaglioso began, classified as a 2nd category not because it was a mountain pass but because it was an endless ramp of just 3 kilometers but with an average gradient of 8.4%.

At the start, the usual script of the stages was repeated with the attack of two cyclists: Giousè Epis from Arkéa-B&B Hotels, and Davide Bais from Polti-Visit Malta. A few kilometers later, Movistar Team's cyclist, Lorenzo Milesi, joined them to form the breakaway of the day.

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Meanwhile, calm in the peloton except for the dispute of the bonus sprints in which Mads Pedersen continued to increase his points for the ciclamino jersey, a garment that he cannot wear these days as he remains at the top of the general classification. Apart from this, the only remarkable thing was the disagreements among the escapees that led to Davide Bais' attack 43 km from the finish, which only Milesi could follow.

With the arrival of the climb to Montescaglioso, this 5th stage of the Giro d'Italia came to life where, as in the previous days, Lidl-Trek set an infernal pace, taking advantage of Mads Pedersen's great form. The pace quickly began to take its toll on the other fast men who fell one by one. Kooij, Bennet, Moschetti, Groves... even Mads Pedersen himself suffered in the final meters of the ascent and lost the wheel of his companions, who were forced to ease off the pace, although their place would be taken by the cyclists of UAE Team Emirates-XRG who continued the pace, leaving the peloton decimated.

However, they took a breather for the tough finish around the city of Matera, located on a rocky canyon that included several tough climbs and a wall two and a half kilometers from the finish line that was expected to break the sprint.

The greatly reduced group arrived at this steep section, and, finding himself at the front, Primoz Roglic did not hesitate to try a change of pace. What the Slovenian probably did not expect was to look back and see the white jersey of the Giro d'Italia, the cyclist from Lidl-Trek Mathias Vacek, who was leading the way for the equally incredible Mads Pedersen. Obviously, Roglic decided to step aside and let them pass.

We then witnessed the curious situation of the day when Vacek continued to push with all his might, causing him to even cut off his teammate, and it wasn't until someone shouted at him through the earpiece that he eased off to catch up with his leader. Moments of chaos that several cyclists tried to take advantage of to surprise, including Orluis Aular, who in recent days had seen that he could not do better than third place. In all these cases, Vacek managed to close the gaps while glancing back to locate Mads Pedersen, who managed to reach his side at the last kilometer banner.

Instead of waiting, Vacek accelerated again to reach the front with Pedersen on his wheel and leave him at his ideal distance to launch the sprint. However, the effort to reach the top took its toll, reducing his explosiveness, which Tom Pidcock took advantage of, well positioned after this crazy finish to also sprint. The British rider began to climb on the right side, and at the same time, from behind on the left side, in a tremendous finish, the cyclist from Bahrain-Victorious, Edoardo Zambanini, appeared, who almost surprised us again. But this time, the victory clearly went to Mads Pedersen, who continues to increase his tally of victories.

Stage 5 Classification

1. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 3h27'31''
2. Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain-Victorious) +00''
3. Thomas Pidcock (Q36.5) +00''
4. Orluis Aular (Movistar Team) +00''
5. Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane) +00''
6. Michael Storer (Tudor) +00''
7. Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ) +00''
8. Brandon Smith Rivera (INEOS Grenadiers) +00''
9. Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious) +00''
10. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +00''

General Classification

1. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 15h11'52''
2. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +17''
3. Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) +24''
4. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +31''
5. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +32''
6. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +35''
7. Max Poole (Picnic-PostNL) +43''
8. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +44''
9. Michael Storer (Tudor) +46''
10. Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +50''