Australian Kaden Groves has won the fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia in a bunch sprint, while race favourite Remco Evenepoel has crashed twice behind him, including once in a pile-up caused by a stray dog.
The riders spent the majority of the 171-kilometre route from Atripalda to Salerno in the rain and they had to go cautiously on the descents, but chaos ensued when two big crashes ahead of the final sprint split the bunch.
Groves was caught up in the first major crash 7 kilometres from the end, but the Alpecin Deceuninck rider recovered to dominate the sprint and win the stage ahead of stage 2 winner Jonathan Milan and Mads Pedersen, as Mark Cavendish and others fell behind them.
Cavendish slid over the line, while Andrea Vendrame was taken away on a stretcher.
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"I surprised myself today. Everything was going well but then I crashed at the roundabout with 7 kilometres to go," 24-year-old Groves said.
"Luckily, I put my chain back on fast enough and the group came back together. The guys did a good job earlier and then luckily I was good enough to be in position and had the legs to lead out and win.
"It's a dream to win. This is a race I've been focusing on since November or December … After two third places this week, they (the team) delivered me to a win."
Groves managed to avoid another crash with less than 2 kilometres left, when Evenepoel was brought down again, along with many other riders.
The second crash did not affect Evenepoel's time as it happened inside the final 3 kilometres, effectively neutralising the general classification times, meaning he remains 28 seconds behind Andreas Leknessund in the leader's maglia rosa jersey.
But the crashes, including an earlier one caused by a dog on the road, left the Belgian world champion fuming and sore.
"He has a lot of pain on his right side and a haematoma with contraction of his muscles and some problems with his sacrum bone," Soudal Quick-Step team doctor Toon Cruyt said.
"Hopefully, with some good massage and osteopathic treatment followed by a good night's rest, things will be better … but what's sure is that stage 6 will be a difficult one for him."
Evenepoel hit the deck barely 20 kilometres into the stage after a dog ran on to the wet road, taking him down as well as Soudal Quick-Step team mate Davide Ballerini, who slid several metres on the tarmac.
But Evenepoel was back on the saddle again two minutes later before catching up with the bunch.
Primoz Roglic, another pre-race favourite, also crashed and suffered a cut leg.
"It's all good, could be a lot worse. The guys did an incredible job to bring me back. Just super bad luck, with the second crash," he said.
Reuters/ABC
