Giro d’Italia stage 5 – Dwell protection | Cyclingnews

The sun is out in Sicily but there is a slight breeze blowing from the east that could spark some aggressive racing.   

Barry Ryan and Alasdair Fotheringham are in Catania for Cyclingnews and were atop Mount Etna yesterday, producing our detailed reporting of all the action and reaction.

To catch-up on everything that happened during stage 4, click on our detailed live coverage of the stage below.

Giro d’Italia stage 4 – Live coverage

The riders are rolling! 

We can expect a break to form on the coast road and we can already seen several Drone Hopper riders line-up near the front. 

The opening 40km head north along the coastline, passing towards the stunning holiday locations of Giardini-Naxos and Taormina. 

The four jersey wearers are lined-up at the start and will soon be joined by the rest of the peloton.

Click below to read the full Cavendish story. 

Cavendish conquers Mount Etna and eyes next Giro d’Italia sprint in Messina

“We have a really good sprinter with Mark and a fantastic team around to support him. I think we brought here our best guys for the lead-out, and then we also have some guys for stage wins,” Team coach Vasilis Anastopoulos explained on Tuesday.

Mark Cavendish finished safely inside the time limit atop Mount Etna, carefully calibrating his effort on the first mountain stage of the 2022 Giro d’Italia in the hope of being at his best for the expected sprint finish in Messina on Wednesday and then in Scalea on Thursday.

His QuickStep team is confident that his leadout and Cavendish can win again.

The riders are lining up in central Catania for the roll out. 

They face a neutral sector of 7.1km before the stage starts.   

Following the descent to the coast, the final 64km is largely flat and features one further intermediate sprint as the race travels north towards the town of Messina, famously home to the ‘Shark of Messina’ himself, Vincenzo Nibali. 

The Astana Qazaqstan rider is unlikely to be afforded the opportunity to go for victory as the almost inevitable bunch sprint will unfold instead, featuring a strong field of fast men including Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), Mark Cavendish (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Giacomo Nizzolo (Israel-Premier Tech) and Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ).

The second of two Sicilian stages, stage 5 will provide some relief for the bunch following a day of climbing on the slopes of Mount Etna. 

The 194km stage begins in the town of Catania on the east coast of Sicily, the island’s second largest city. 

From Catania, the peloton will travel north along the coast of Sicily, before heading inland and taking on the first of two intermediate sprints. 

A bunch sprint finish is on the cards for the stage, assuming the sprinters can successfully manage the day’s single categorised climb, the second-category Portella Mandrazzi. At 19.5 kilometres long and with an average gradient of around four per cent, it’s a stringent enough test to find out which of the pure sprinters don’t have their best legs. However, placed just before halfway along the stage’s distance and with 30km of descending to follow, any stragglers should be able to make it back to the bunch with time to spare.

As the cyclingnews blimp takes height, the riders are gathering in centre of Catania for the start of the 174km stage to Messina.  

Buongiorno and welcome  the Cyclingnews live coverage of stage 5 of the Giro d’italia.