Stage 5

The road

At the start

Nibali comes home to Messina

Juan Pedro López wakes up in pink for the first time, the first Spaniard to wear it since Contador in 2015, with Lennard Kämna at 39 seconds and Simon Yates already 1:42 down after Etna. Miguel Ángel López climbed off yesterday. Today runs up the Sicilian coast to Messina, home of Vincenzo Nibali, and the only obstacle is 19.5 kilometres of Portella Mandrazzi at halfway — soft enough for the sprinters.

How it was won

1. 1118 km to go

   The road is already rising

   The intermediate sprint comes on a gradient that keeps going for another twenty kilometres. The average is under 5% and nobody is worried yet.

2. 299 km to go

   Alpecin ambush the sprinters

   Seven kilometres from the top Alpecin-Fenix pile onto the front en masse and lift the pace, and on gentle gradients the damage is instant. Ewan loses contact, then Cavendish a kilometre later, then a whole group of fifteen including Démare. At the summit the Démare group is 1:10 back, Cavendish 2:40, Ewan another two minutes adrift.

3. 337 km to go

   Swift steals the bonus seconds

   Three, two and one second are on offer and the GC men come out to play. Kämna pushes first, Almeida is piloted up by Ulissi — and Ineos cleverly send road captain Ben Swift, who takes the maximum haul away from Carapaz's rivals.

4. 4At the line

   Démare wins in Messina

   Démare's group made it back on the long, gentle descent; Cavendish's never did. Scotson takes such a good line through the tight right-hander at 800 metres that he detaches himself from his own train, leaving Sinkeldam to keep his head and deliver Démare past Gaviria and Nizzolo.

The result