Hello, and welcome to Cycling Weekly's live coverage of stage 5 of the Giro d'Italia. With live racing now harder (see: more expensive) to watch in the UK, we thought we would bring you updates from some of the key stages of the 108th edition of the Italian Grand Tour. The first of those live blogs comes today, with an unpredictable, punchy stage in the south of Italy.
I'm Tom Davidson, and I'll be guiding you through the 151km of action from Ceglie Messapica to Matera, which is in the very south of the boot, basically in the arch.
To catch you up, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) is in the pink jersey after two stage wins on the opening weekend in Albania. Casper van Uden (Picnic PostNL) won Tuesday's bunch sprint in Lecce.
- Who is leading the Giro d'Italia 2025 after stage 4?
Today's stage will roll out at 13:50 local time – that's 12:50 in the UK.
There's only one categorised climb on the menu – a 2.9km kicker inside 30km to go – but the finale is lumpy all the way into Matera. One for the breakaway? Or will we see the GC riders battle it out for the stage win?
Here's how the GC looks going into stage five:
1. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek, in 11:44:31
2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, +9s
3. Mathias Vacek (Cze) Lidl-Trek, +14s
4. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +21s
5. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +22s
6. Juan Ayuso (Spa) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +25s
7. Max Poole (GBr) Picnic PostNL, +33s
8. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious, +34s
9. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling Team, +36s
10. Guido Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, +40s
The last time the Giro d'Italia finished in Matera was in 2020, when Arnaud Démare, then of Groupama-FDJ, outsprinted the pack.
The Frenchman went on to win the points classification that year, but he's not in this current edition.
Wondering what he's up to instead? Démare finished fourth at the Classique Dunkerque yesterday, riding for Arkéa-B&B Hotels. Here he is raising his arms in Matera five years ago.
I've never been to Matera but I've just been told by a friend that it's a "fascinating" place.
The city is known for its cave dwellings, called sassi, which are carved into the limestone cliffs. Apparently it was a bustling settlement throughout the Roman, Byzantine, and Norman eras.
Matera also has an olive oil museum, which is located underground in an old mill.
I'm off to grab a sandwich before the stage begins. I suggest you do the same. Rendez-vous back here in 45 minutes or so.
While Tom is away, it's Adam Becket here, just with a couple of updates before today's stage gets underway.
Two riders will not be on the start line today after crashing yesterday - Nickolas Zukowsky of Q36.5 Pro Cycling, and Søren Kragh Andersen of Lidl-Trek. The former broke a collarbone, while the latter broke a wrist. Ouch. We wish them the best for their recoveries.
We have answers to many of your questions, but please do email me - adam.becket@futurenet - if we can answer any others.
How does the general classification work at the Giro d'Italia?
How to watch the Giro d'Italia 2025: Everything you need to live stream the Italian Grand Tour
How much prize money does the winner of the Giro d'Italia get?
What do all the Giro d'Italia jerseys mean? Pink, purple, blue and white explained
If you're working out who is who, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) is in the pink jersey, Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) is in purple for points, Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) is in the white young rider's jersey, while Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana) is the man in blue, for leading the mountains classification.
Everyone else is in their ordinary kits - you can take a look at the start list here.
151km to go: I (Tom Davidson) have now seized back the reins from Adam, just as stage five begins. Here comes the battle for the breakaway.
150km to go: We've got two early takers for the breakaway – Giosuè Epis (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Davide Bais (Polti VisitMalta).
147km to go: Movistar's Lorenzo Milesi joins the two escapees to form an all-Italian trio. The gap to the peloton is over a minute.
It looks like nobody else will dare to go up the road.
140km to go: Let's honour the breakaway trio's bravery by learning a bit more about them.
Davide Bais (Polti VisitMalta) is a 27-year-old Giro d'Italia stage winner, having taken his only career victory on the Gran Sasso in 2023.
Giosuè Epis (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) is a first-year pro, aged 23. Already, he has 24 race days under his belt this season.
Lorenzo Milanesi (Movistar), also 23, is the youngest of the three, but only by two weeks. He's never won a pro race, but did become the under-23 time trial world champion in 2023.
136km to go: The gap is now over 2:30. Lidl Trek's Jacopo Mosca is leading the bunch behind.
As an aside, I enjoyed this video Lidl-Trek shared ahead of the race of Mosca having his head shaved like a monk.
Apparently he lost a bet.
100% commitment to the team 🤝100% commitment to the bet 💇🏻♂️Chapeau @SunJjak , and sorry @ElisaLongoB 🤭#GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/QX2yC7vFpeMay 10, 2025
130km to go: The average speed so far is 43.7kph, slightly slower than yesterday's stage average of almost 47kph.
Here's Mads Pedersen in his pink skinsuit ahead of the start today.
In case you missed it, the Dane announced this morning that he has penned a lifetime contract with Lidl-Trek, keeping him at the squad for "the rest of his professional career".
"Taking the decision to stay with Lidl-Trek for the remainder of my career was for me quite easy, actually," he said in a press release. "Since I joined in 2017, I always felt super welcome and supported by everyone here. Every time my contract was up for renewal, it was easy to make the decision to stay."
120km to go: The breakaway is being kept on a tight leash. Their advantage is now just 1:45. Mosca is still hammering the front for Lidl-Trek.
115km to go: The riders are now descending gradually to the first of three individual sprints today. That comes in around 7km.
109km to go: The intermediate sprint in Massafra is won by Epis ahead of Bais.
Behind, Pedersen shoots away from the peloton to take minor points.
101km to go: The next 50km are pan flat until the riders reach the 'Red Bull Kilometre' in Bernalda, with around 50km to go.
Don't know what the Red Bull Kilometre is? Here's your answer.
97km to go: We're now into the final 100km. Little has changed over the last hour of racing. We still have a breakaway trio, and Lidl-Trek's Jacopo Mosca is still pulling in the peloton.
Here's a shot of the escapees – Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar), Giosuè Epis (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Davide Bais (Polti VisitMalta).
91km to go: The riders are barreling down a dual carriageway at the moment. The race is heading west along Italy's southern coast on the Ionian Sea.
81km to go: Still on a dual carriageway.
There's not much urgency in the pack right now, save for Mosca ploughing the front. It's been a calm afternoon so far.
74km to go: Giosuè Epis makes it two for two in the day's intermediate sprints.
It's déjà-vu, too, for the peloton, who watch Pederson pick up the smaller spoils through the gantry in Marina di Ginosa. A reminder that, as well as leading the general classification, Pedersen also leads the points classification, lending his jersey to Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike).
The virtual points classification is:
1. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) - 89 points
2. Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) - 52 points
3. Casper van Uden (Picnic PostNL) - 50 points
While there's a lull in the racing, I'm going to offer my (unsolicited) predictions for how this one will finish.
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) are probably the standout favourites for the stage win. But there are two riders I'm looking out for: Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5).
Today's uphill finish is both of these riders' bread and butter. Pidcock is after a maiden Giro victory, while the bonus seconds could put Roglič back in the pink jersey.
It's worth noting too that, due to the uphill nature of the final straight today, there is no '3km rule'. This means there is no time protection for riders who crash in the final 3km. For this reason, Roglič will need to be right up near the front at the end. Will he be able to resist kicking away for the stage win? I think this one's his for the taking.
61km to go: It's time to start getting excited for the Red Bull Kilometre.
Today's one falls in Bernalda, at the top of a steeply banked climb, in about 10km.
There are six, four, and two bonus seconds for the respective first three riders over the line. Will the breakaway sweep them all? Or will someone from the peloton launch a raid?
Please allow me to give a big shout-out to Jacopo Mosca (Lidl-Trek), who has towed the peloton singlehandedly for the best part of two hours.
The 31-year-old has only won three times in his pro career – the last of those coming in 2018 – so he doesn't often get the plaudits. Today he's acting like everyone's favourite rider on the club run.
52km to go: A little tumble in the bunch for two VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè riders – Alessandro Pinarello and Filippo Magli.
Both have managed to remount, and are chasing back into the bunch.
51km to go: Giosuè Epis (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) wins the Red Bull Kilometre sprint.
The Italian has won all three intermediate sprints today, netting six bonus seconds, and perhaps most importantly €2,500 with his latest dash
47km to go: The next point of interest in this stage comes in its only categorised climb, with 28km to go.
The drag up to Montescaglioso is only a category-four, but it looks like a cruel beast – 2.9km at 8.4%. Beware: its uppermost part is said to tip over 20%.
40km to go: Epis's day in the breakaway is over. The 23-year-old takes his foot off the gas, and lets Milesi and Bais continue their charge as a duo.
32km to go: The pace has picked up in the peloton, with the bunch now roaring towards the climb. They'll hit the base in about a kilometre.
30km to go: The breakaway duo of Milesi and Bais have a 1:50 buffer on the climb. The peloton is squeezed into a pack behind.
29km to go: The gap to the escapees is dropping. It's now down to 1:30, with 600m to go to the summit.
They'll survive the climb, but their days are numbered.
28km to go: The pure sprinters are being shelled out the back on this climb. Milan Fretin (Cofidis), Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike), and Matteo Moschetti (Q36.5) have all fallen victim to the double-figure slopes.
28km to go: Milesi takes full points over the top of the climb.
Meanwhile, Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Casper van Uden (Picnic PostNL) add their names to dropped riders list.
23km to go: Mosca's duties are over and UAE Team Emirates-XRG have taken up chasing duties in the peloton. The gap to Milesi and Bais is 45 seconds, as the bunch rips down a descent.
22km to go: The peloton has splintered on the descent, and is now stretched out in a line along the road. No need to panic chase yet, though, there's still more than 20km to go.
Before we get there, let's take a closer look at today's finale.
There are a few twists and turns in the final 3km, including two hard corners in the last kilometre.
The gradients are uneven towards the line, with a slight ramp from the flamme rouge. It pays to be powerful on a stage like this.
16km to go: Though uncategorised, the riders are currently on a 5km climb at around 5%.
Forty seconds separates the peloton from the two escapees. Kooij, dropped on the climb to Montescaglioso, is more than three minutes back in the gruppetto.
13km to go: The breakaway's foray is over.
Movistar, Q36.5 and UAE Team Emirates-XRG are among the teams sharing the front row of the peloton.
11km to go: Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is in charge of leading his team leaders, Juan Ayuso and Adam Yates into this finale.
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) is still near the front in the pink jersey.
7km to go: UAE Team Emirates-XRG are still on the front. There's a sharp descent coming shortly, and it appears they want to lead onto it.
6km to go: Scrap that, UAE Team Emirates-XRG have now dropped back, and left marshalling duties to Q36.5. Let's not forget, Pidcock was one of my tips for the day.
4km to go: Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) has been dropped, and will not contest the finale.
3km to go: Sprayed across the road, the riders hit a 10% ramp at almost 70kph. Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have Primož Roglič on the front.
2km to go: Roglič tries to stretch out the pack, but he can't drop Pedersen. Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) is leading in the white jersey.
1.9km to go: Pedersen is slipping back through the peloton.
1.8km to go: Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) launches an attack, but he's closed down by Vacek.
1km to go: The peloton is reduced, but there's still around 50 or 60 riders in the pack.
600m to go: Picnic PostNL are winding up a lead-out.
300m to go: Pedersen launches off Vacek's wheel.
Mads Pedersen wins stage five
The Dane holds off Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious) and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) to win his third stage of the race. The pink jersey remains on his shoulders.
That's it from tonight, we will be back on Friday for an explosive stage seven, one of only two summit finishes proper at this race. Enjoy tomorrow's stage six, which could be a breakaway day or a sprint, or a bit of everything. Naples always brings chaos.
In the meantime, here is our full stage report and the standings after stage five.
