Igor Arrieta went the wrong way with two kilometres to go. He still won.
The Spaniard delivered one of the most improbable stage victories in recent Giro d’Italia memory on Wednesday — winning a rain-lashed Stage 5 from Praia a Mare to Potenza after chasing down Afonso Eulálio in the final 100 metres to snatch the win on the line. The 203km stage across the Basilicata region, with 3,724 metres of climbing and persistent rain throughout, was so chaotic it almost defies linear description.
How the Break Was Built
After more than 40 kilometres of nervous, unsettled racing, a move finally stuck. It was a significant one. Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious), Arrieta and Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Einer Rubio and Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar), Thomas Silva and Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana), Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal Quick-Step), Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike), Ben Turner (Netcompany Ineos), Martin Tjøtta (Uno-X Mobility), and Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF) all got clear. The headache for Lidl-Trek was immediate — Eulálio had started the day just 1:11 behind Giulio Ciccone, and with no help around him in the peloton, Ciccone cracked on the climbs.
Viggiano Splits It Open
On the Montagna Grande di Viggiano — 6.6 kilometres at over 9%, with ramps touching 15% — Arrieta attacked first. Eulálio bridged across. Everyone else was gone. The two worked together through the rolling terrain to Potenza, building their gap over what remained of the breakaway.
Behind them, Jonas Vingegaard’s GC group ticked over without urgency. Giulio Pellizzari edged Vingegaard at the Red Bull KM intermediate sprint to claim a few bonus seconds — a detail that briefly separated the two on general classification.
Two Crashes, One Wrong Turn
Then the descent into Potenza turned the stage into something approaching farce. Arrieta crashed first, 13.5 kilometres from the line, sliding out on a wet hairpin and fumbling with his bike before remounting. Eulálio pressed on. Then, at 6.5 kilometres, Eulálio hit the same wet asphalt and went down hard on his left side, sliding into a guardrail. Both riders eventually resumed together with five kilometres remaining.
Then came the moment that will be replayed for years. With two kilometres to go, Arrieta drifted left at a road split — the wrong direction — and ran straight into red tape cordoning off a closed road. He frantically hauled his bike around, watched Eulálio ride clear, and somehow refused to fold. He chased. He caught. He won — passing Eulálio in the final 100 metres to take the stage by two seconds.
“I didn’t think it was lost after crashing, I needed to try until the end. I was completely empty in the last kilometres but I knew Eulálio was also the same. […] When I lost Eulálio in the last two kilometres I was like ‘it’s not possible’ — but then I kept pushing, I saw that he cannot go faster than me, and then when I took his wheel I was like, ‘fuck, maybe I can win one stage.'”
UAE Team Emirates-XRG — who lost Adam Yates, Jay Vine, and Marc Soler to a crash in Bulgaria before the race even reached Italy — now have back-to-back stage wins. Narváez took Cosenza on Stage 4. Arrieta took this.
A New Maglia Rosa — and History for Portugal
Eulálio crossed the line second but left Potenza in pink. The 24-year-old from Figueira da Foz becomes only the third Portuguese rider to wear the maglia rosa at the Giro d’Italia, joining Acácio da Silva and João Almeida — and it is only his second Grand Tour appearance. He leads Arrieta by 2 minutes 51 seconds overall, with Scaroni third at 3:34. Vingegaard sits 6:22 back in 15th, deep in the hole but not yet alarmed given the mountains still to come.
Thomas Silva (XDS Astana) finished third on the stage at +51 seconds. Milesi and Scaroni completed the top five.
What’s Next
Friday’s Stage 6 brings the first summit finish of this Giro — Blockhaus, one of the race’s most storied climbs. If Vingegaard and the genuine GC contenders were using Wednesday as a rest day in all but name, that luxury expires at the flamme rouge on the Majella. The maglia rosa could change shoulders again before the weekend is out.
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