Benjamin Thomas triumphed from the break on stage five of the Giro d'Italia, as a quartet of escapees managed to outfox the chasing peloton, who were hoping for a sprint finish.
The Frenchman hailed a "perfect" day as he took Cofidis' first victory of the season in the process, as he out-sprinted Michael Valgren (EF Education-EasyPost), Andrea Pietrobon (Polti Kometa) and Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ). Behind, Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) won the sprint for fifth, three seconds adrift of the four up front.
