The 5th stage in the Giro d`Italia was animated by an escape group of 4 riders. On their way from Modena to Fano they opened up a gap of several minutes, but with 20 kilometres to go everything was back together. In the bunch sprint world champion Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) took his 2nd stage win of this Giro. Nikolas Maes was the first rider of the Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team in a 13th place.
The 4 escapees - De Marchi (Androni), De Negri (Farnese Vini), Kaisen and Bulgac (Lotto-Belisol) - took off after only 10 kilometres. They quickly took a 3 minute lead, but the peloton kept control. First Kaisen and Bulgac had to let go De Marchi and De Negri, but at 20 kilometres from the line the resuming 2 escapees were caught too after the last climbs.
The teams of the sprinters took control in the bunch and lead the bunch to another sprint. World champion Cavendish was highly motivated with his wife and little girl at the finish line. In a sprint Cavendish outsprinted Matthew Goss (Orica-Greenedge) and Daniele Bennati (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek). Nikolas Maes did a good sprint, but just finished outside the top-10 in a 13th place.
