MODENA, Italy (Reuters) – Australian Caleb Ewan sprinted to victory but two favourites saw their GC hopes go up in smoke in a crash-hit climax to stage five of the Giro d’Italia on Wednesday.
The Lotto Soudal rider surged through to beat Italian Giacomo Nizzolo on the line alongside the Adriatic resort of Cattolica with Elia Viviani in third place.
But the day was overshadowed by late crashes involving Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious). Russian Sivakov fell heavily after clipping an over-hanging tree but finished the stage.
Worse was to follow as Spaniard Landa went down about 4km from the finish and his race appeared to be over.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond)
