Filippo Ganna goes solo to win his second Giro d'Italia stage

Italian World Time Trial Champion wins his first proper road stage by attacking from the breakaway on the penultimate climb of the Valico di Montescuro

Filippo Ganna goes solo to win his second Giro d'Italia stage

Italy are once again celebrating another stage win as Ganna solo'd 10 kms from the top of the final climb and maintained a distance of 50 seconds on the wet, twisty and technical descent down into Camigliatello Silano, after an eye watering 255 kms that featured over 3,700m of climbing, as the race returned to the Italian mainland.

Ganna showed the world that he's not just a time trialler. What makes the victory even more incredible, Ganna is an 82 kg powerhouse and still managed to distance his breakaway rivals on the penultimate climb.

 A breakaway of 8 riders went away; Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), Salvatore Puccio (Ineos Grenadiers), Jan Tratink (Bahrain McLaren), Carl Fredrik Hagen (Lotto Soudal), Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates), Hector Carretero (Movistar), Jhonatan Restrepo (Androni-Giocattoli-Sidermec), Edoardo Zardini (Vini Zabù-KTM) and built upa lead of over 5 minutes.

Due to light dizziness felt during the stage, Pieter Weening's team decided to withdraw him. The Dutchman who crashed badly yeaterday had been closely monitored in the night. He will undergo clinical tests, possibly suffering from concussion.

It was a wet, wild and windy stage.

There was a big climb 35 kms before the finish the Valico di Montescuro, some 25 km in length, had a 5.6% avgerage gradient with peaks reaching 18%.

With 60 kms to go, Jumbo Visma upped the pace and riders like Louis Meintjes (NTT) were dropped, a Gruppetto formed on the small unclassified climb to Rogliano.

With the intermediate sprint at the bottom of the final climb, Hagen zipped in front to take the three bonus seconds, he reduced his overall deficit to 8:20. Restrepo was second, Tratnik third.

With 30 kms to go, the breakaway splintered, at the head of the race were Ganna, Puccio, Conti, Tratnik, Carretero, and Zanardi continued to ride together. They were 1:45 ahead of De Gendt and Rubio, and 2:15 ahead of the peloton. 

10 km from the top, Ganna, Carretero, and Zanardi had 1:45 over the peloton. De Gendt and Rubio were nearly with them. 

Ganna went solo and opened up a sizeable gap, at the top he took the KOM 40 points and the mountains classification blue jersey, and had a lead of 49 seconds. 

Behind the reduced peloton saw Fuglsang, Possovivo and Nibali descend on the limit, however, the heavens opened up making the catch even more impossible.

Ganna maintained his gap all the way to the line to take his second stage win -  to the delight of the Italian tifosi!

Race leader João Almeida put in a sprint for the line, 2nd place for Majka, 3rd place for Almeida in Pink. Majka taking 6'secs bonification.

The Maglia Rosa added four bonus seconds to his overall lead. Caicedo fell away earlier, so he now leads by 43 seconds, with Pello Bilbao (Bahrain McLaren) moving up to second ahead of Wilco Kelderman.

Filippo Ganna said to the media after his 2nd stage victory, "Yesterday I was messaging Geraint Thomas and he said 'hey Pippo, go in the break, try, you can do it, try and win another stage'. Today I tried, and it's an amazing victory for me and the team."

"It was really hard, because 82kg is not easy to take uphill. I made a big chrono to the finish. On the radio I didn't have the time gaps to the others, I was justing thinking 'ok Pippo, full gas to the finish'."

Tomorrow's stage 6 is from Castrovillar to Matera is a 188 km hilly stage with some climbs at the start thought the Pollino national park. The route then levels out past the lake of Monte Cotugno, heading for Matera after passing through the province. A few mild climbs and descents in the closing part lead to punchier bits in the stage finale. 

VIDEO: 2020 Giro d'Italia Stage 5 Highlights

2020 Giro d'Italia Stage 5 Top 10

1 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers 5:59:17
2 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:34
3 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-Quickstep
4 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb
5 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
6 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb
7 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal
8 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain McLaren
9 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
10 Fausto Masnada (Ita) CCC Team

2020 Giro d'Italia GC after stage 5

1 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-Quickstep 17:06:23
2 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain McLaren 0:00:43
3 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:48
4 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:59
5 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:01
6 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling 0:01:05
7 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:01:19
8 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:21
9 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:26
10 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:32