Groves wins wet Giro stage, Leknessund retains lead as Evenepoel falls twice

SALERNO, ITALY: Australian Kaden Groves won a ferocious sprint at the end of a rain-soaked and crash-filled fifth stage of the Giro d’Italia on Wednesday as Andreas Leknessund retained the overall lead and favorite Remco Evenepoel fell twice.

World champion and Vuelta a Espana winner Evenepoel now faces a nervy wait to discover the seriousness of his injuries.

“After the second fall, he felt a lot of pain on his right side. He has a muscle hematoma and was hurt in his sacrum (at the base of the spine),” said Toon Cruyt, the doctor for the Soudal Quick-Step team.

“We hope that after a good massage and a good night’s sleep he will be better. We will know more Thursday but what is certain is that the sixth stage will be difficult for him.”

Leknessund, who also had a scare, remained 28 seconds ahead of 23-year-old Evenepoel after a largely flat 171km run from Atripalda to Salerno on the coast.

The Norwegian said he is enjoying leading a major tour.

“Rainy and cold but still a nice day,” he said, adding that he was happy the team had prepared rain jackets in the pink of the Giro leader’s jersey.

Groves, Leknessund and another favorite, Primoz Roglic, were the beneficiaries of the decision of rival teams not to take advantage of a late crash.

Groves and Roglic fell with 6km to go which split the peloton.

Leknessund was caught in the second group but Evenepoel’s Soudal Quick-Step team and Ineos, which has former major Tour winners Tao Geoghegan Hart and Geraint Thomas in the top ten, eased up allowing the chasers to catch up.

“It was a hectic final,” said Leknessund. “I was behind this crash. We went all in too close with a few other teams. I could see it would come back and tried to stay calm.”

That set up a