John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) benefitted from a crash from his lead-out man inside the final kilometer of today's fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia as he was one of a select few not forced to brake. An incredibly long sprint made him catch the lone Marco Canola (Bardiani) with 200m to go and he powered clear to take a convincing win ahead of Angel Vicioso (Katusha) and Paul Martens (Blanco).

For the second time in this year's Giro the sprinters had a chance to battle it out at the end of today's fifth stage of the Italian grand tour and for the second time the bunch kick was severely disturbed by a crash in one of the front positions. Once again it was left to a select few to battle it out for the win and this time it was John Degenkolb who emerged victorious from the carnage.

The crash came at the end of a hectic final part of the stage where two hard climbs had done huge damage on some tired legs in the peloton. Sprinters like Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Francesco Chicchi (Vini Fantini) and Mattia Gavazzi (Androni) had all been dropped on the last two ascents and as they approached the finish on the flat, rain-slicked roads towards the end, the surviving sprinters all battled for position.

Marco Canola hit the front in an attempt to set up yesterday's winner Enrico Battaglin and Sacha Modolo for the win and in his wheel Degenkolb's final lead-out man was well-placed with his German captain a couple of positions further behind. Disaster struck in the final bend with less than a kilometer to go as Degenkolb's teammate slid out on the wet roads and hit the deck with only Canola managing to escape ahead.

From the carnage Canola emerged with a huge lead while Degenkolb was now in lone pursuit of the Italian. A little further behind Elia Viviani (Cannondale) chased hard on the slight rise towards the finish line while a small group fought hard to get back on.

The roads got steeper on the approach to the finish line and Degenkolb had to dig really dip to catch the hard-fighting Canola. With 200m to go of the very hard finishing straight he finally managed to gain contact with the lone Bardiani rider who had no energy to follow the big German when he powered clear moments later

Totally exhausted he reached the finish line and immediately fell to the ground where he spent several minutes recovering from a very long, hard final sprint. At the same time the small group managed to catch Viviani who blew up as he attempted to reach Degenkolb and Canola who had to settle for 11th in what could have been a perfect opportunity to take a breakthrough win. In the sprint for second Angel Vicioso beat Paul Martens while the remainder of the completely split-up peloton rolled in behind.

As the crash happened inside the final 3km of the stage the time gaps arising as a consequence of the tumble will all be neutralized and hence there are no changes to the overall top 10. Luca Paolini (Katusha) will wear the maglia rosa for the third consecutive day when the peloton tackles the completely flat sixth stage tomorrow.

Starting at 14.15 you can follow all the action on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

Pirazzi on the attack

The 203km stage was always expected to be one of the few opportunities for the sprinters in this year's Giro d'Italia and so few expected the day's early break to have any chance of success. Hence, there was no big fight to enter the first move and almost from the gun 6 riders managed to get clear.

Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani), Tomas Gil (Androni), Ricardo Mestre (Euskaltel), Alan Marangoni (Cannondale), Brian Bulgac (Lotto) and Rafael Andriato (Vini Fantini) were allowed to build up a gap of almost 10 minutes before the Katusha team of race leader Paolini started to control the gap. Pirazzi was on a mission to pick up points for the mountains competition and as soon as he had crested the summit of the day's first climb in first position, he dropped back to the peloton.

Argos, Orica and Omega chase

The 5 remaining escapees continued their efforts while the teams of the sprinters started to chase from behind. Degenkolb's Argos-Shimano team put Cheng Ji on the front while the Orica-GreenEdge team of Matt Goss had Cristian Meier doing the early work. Cavendish also hoped to survive the day's climbs and so he asked Gianluca Brambilla to take part in the pace-setting.

The chase had its effect on the advantage which fell to around 6.30 where it hovered for a long time. Andriato beat Marangoni in both the intermediate sprints while Elia Viviani (Cannondale) picked up the remaining points in the peloton.

With 80km to go Omega Pharma-Quick Step decided to give up the chase and it was now left to Meier and Ji to bring down the gap. They were unable to do so and for a few moments the breakaway could start dreaming about a possible stage win.

Added firepower

However, Argos and Orica reinforced their chase team as they added the firepower of Tobias Ludvigsson and Luke Durbridge respectively and this spelled the end of the break's chances. As the peloton was hit by a shower, the big teams started to organize their troops near the front of the peloton and Movistar put Eros Capecchi on the front, the advantage started to come down rapidly.

The battle for position was hectic as they approached the first of two climbs in the final part of the course and Jens Mouris and Svein Tuft kept up the pace in an attempt to help Goss. On the lower slopes the break splintered as Andriato and Gil dropped off but with 23km to go it was all back together as Robert Hunter (Garmin) led the peloton.

Cavendish drops off

Movistar wanted a hard race to get rid of the pure sprinters and so Pablo Lastras and later Jose Herrada drastically upped the pace. Behind riders started to drop off and midway up the climb Cavendish was clearly struggling while his teammates Julien Vermote and Jerome Pineau tried to pace him towards the top.

As they neared the summit of the climb Pirazzi attacked once again to take more mountain points and he was joined by Ben Gastauer (Ag2r). As soon as the Italian had taken maximum points he fell back while the Ag2r rider continued on his own. Robert Vrecer (Euskaltel) joined him on the descent and when they hit the flat roads at the bottom the break was further strengthened as Lars Bak (Lotto) joined the move.

Blanco and BMC made sure to safely negotiate the descent and as soon as they hit the flat roads the Bardiani team was at the front to prevent Cavendish from returning. The Manxman was in a small group led by his own teammates 30 seconds back but despite his best efforts he never managed to regain contact.

Rabottini on the move

As the peloton hit the lower slopes of the day's final climb, attacks started to go off the front. A number of riders tried to join the front move and while the trio was caught Matteo Rabottini (Vini Fantini) emerged as the lone leader. Behind Evgeny Petrov (Saxo-Tinkoff) set a hard tempo with his GC leader Rafal Majka in his wheel.

Tom Danielson (Garmin) was the next one to set a hard pace and this spelled the end of Rabottini's chances. As the peloton crested the summit of the climb, it was the BMC team which hit the front with 5 riders as their fast Daniel Oss had survived the climb and was ready to battle it out in the sprint.

With 5km to go Hubert Dupont (Ag2r) attacked and he managed to build up a gap of around 10 seconds. However, the peloton was now at full speed and with 3km to go the Frenchman was back in the fold.

As the sprinters battled for positions, Bardiani took control of the peloton with Canola and moments later Degenkolb's final lead-out man slipped in an accident that ended up setting his captain up for his first Giro win.

Result:

1. John Degenkolb 4.37.48

2. Angel Vicioso

3. Paul Martens

4. Sergio Henao

5. Matteo Trentin

6. Jarlinson Pantano

7. Daniel Oss

8. Jens Keukeleire

9. Grega Bole

10. Tanel Kangert

General classification:

1. Luca Paolini 19.56.39

2. Rigoberto Uran +0.17

3. Benat Intxausti +0.26

4. Vincenzo Nibali +0.31

5. Ryder Hesjedal +0.34

6. Bradley Wiggins +0.34

7. Gianpaolo Caruso +0.36

8. Sergio Henao +0.37

9. Mauro Santambrogio +0.39

10. Cadel Evans +0.42

Points classification:

1. Luca Paolini 35

2. John Degenkolb 30

3. Cadel Evans 30

4. Mark Cavendish 28

5. Enrico Battaglin 25

Mountains classification:

1. Giovanni Visconti 14

2. Stefano Pirazzi 11

3. Robinson Chalapud 9

4. Willem Wauters 9

5. Danilo Di Luca 5

Young riders' classification:

1. Fabio Aru 19.57.54

2. Rafal Majka +0.19

3. Carlos Betancur +0.32

4. Wilco Kelderman +1.06

5. Diego Rosa +1.09

Teams' classification:

1. Katusha 59.06.51

2. Sky +0.24

3. Astana +0.45

4. BMC +1.19

5. Garmin +1.48