Benjamin Thomas seals biggest road win of career at Giro d'Italia as Pogacar retains lead

Benjamin Thomas enjoyed the biggest win of his road career after securing a surprise victory in Stage 5 of the Giro d'Italia on Wednesday.

A four-time world champion on the track, Cofidis rider Thomas had never before won a Grand Tour stage but edged out Michael Valgren and Andrea Pietrobon following a breakaway attack.

The four-man break escaped the peloton after the final intermediate sprint of the day, with 80 kilometres left to ride, and held off the chasing pack despite the best efforts of the main sprint contenders' teams.

Italian Pietrobon (Polti-Kometa) looked set to reach the line first after the 178km ride from Genoa to Lucca, but his push for victory inside the last kilometre came too early, and he was caught before the finish.

Pietrobon had to settle for third place, with Denmark's Valgren (EF Education-EasyPost) coming in second behind Thomas, giving the Cofidis team their first victory this year.

Enzo Paleni completed the top four and next across the line was points classification leader Jonathan Milan at the head of the chasing pack as an expected challenge from the sprinters failed to materialise.

Tadej Pogacar, the two-time Tour de France champion, finished safely in the peloton to remain 46 seconds ahead of Geraint Thomas and 47 seconds ahead of Daniel Martinez in the overall lead.