Frenchman’s best road win arrives in fifth stage of Giro

LUCCA, ITALY — Benjamin Thomas of France got the biggest victory of his career on the road as he won the fifth stage of the Giro d’Italia while Tadej Pogacar kept the leader’s pink jersey Wednesday. Thomas won from a breakaway, sprinting to edge out Michael Valgren and Andrea Pietrobon at the end of an undulating, 111-mile route.

Thomas, 28, who lives in Italy, is a four-time world champion on the track but hadn’t won a stage in a grand tour. It also was a first win of the season for his Cofidis team.

Thomas almost won a stage in the Tour de France two years ago but was caught inside the final few hundred meters in Carcassonne — a similarly walled city to that of Lucca.

“I thought to Carcassonne in the last kilometer and I said, ‘Maybe today is my day,’ ” he said.

Pogacar, a 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.

The breakaway Thomas was part of was not the only one of the day, as a group of four riders set off right at the start. But they were never allowed much of an advantage as team Alpecin–Deceuninck led a fast pace in the peloton, and the group was caught shortly after the first of the day’s two categorized climbs.

Thomas and another trio attacked with around 48 miles remaining and built an advantage. They had a lead of just over a minute as they hit the Montemagno climb and continued to work together on the 12-mile run-in to the finish as they held off the charging peloton, which had hoped to set up sprinters for the finale but got it badly wrong.

MASSIMO PAOLONE/AP France’s Benjamin Thomas won the fifth stage of the Tour of Italy cycling race Wednesday, a 111-mile course from Genoa to Lucca. It was the first stage win in a grand tour for Thomas, who resides in Italy.