2012 Giro d'Italia - Stage 5 - Modena - Fano 199km Road Stage
World Champion Mark Cavendish (Sky Procycling) won his second stage at the 2012 Giro d'Italia by once again winning the bunch sprint and showing his spot as one of the top sprinters in the peloton. He held off Matthew Goss of Orica-GreenEdge and RadioShack-Nissan's Daniele Bennati.
The pink jersey of the overall leader will remain on the back of Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Barracuda), who took the overall lead from Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing) after Garmin-Barracuda won stage 4's team time trial.
The day's breakaway was sparked as soon as the stage started with Pier Paolo de Negri (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) attacked the peloton to begin the breakaway. Lotto-Belisol riders Olivier Kaisen and Brian Bulgac and Alessandro de Marchi (Androni Giocattoli) later joined Pier Paolo de Negri. The breakaway's gap rarely went over six minutes with Garmin-Barracuda leading the pack behind to ensure a steady pace.
As the peloton raised its speed as it moved towards the finish line, several top sprinters were dropped. American Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Barracuda, BMC Racing's Thor Hushovd, and Juan José Haedo (Saxo Bank) were all dropped from the peloton as the peloton moved closer towards the finish line.
In the final 500 meters Team Sky rider Geraint Thomas powered towards the front of the peloton with Mark Cavendish on his wheel and gave an excellent lead out to the World Road Race Champion that put him in the position to win.
Stage 4 Results
1 Mark CAVENDISH GBR SKY 4:43:15
2 Matthew Harley GOSS AUS OGE +0
3 Daniele BENNATI ITA RNT +0
4 Robert HUNTER RSA GRM +0
5 Sacha MODOLO ITA COG +0
6 Alexander KRISTOFF NOR KAT +0
7 Elia FAVILLI ITA FAR +0
8 Manuel BELLETTI ITA ALM +0
9 Arnaud DEMARE FRA FDJ +0
10 Jonas Aaen JÖRGENSEN DEN SAX +0
11 Damiano CARUSO ITA LIQ +0
12 Mickael DELAGE FRA FDJ +0
13 Nikolas MAES BEL OPQ +0
14 Mark RENSHAW AUS RAB +0
15 Giacomo NIZZOLO ITA RNT +0
General Classification After Stage 5
1 Ramunas NAVARDAUSKAS Lithuania GRM 14:45:13
2 Robert HUNTER South Africa GRM +5
3 Ryder HESJEDAL Canada GRM +11
4 Matthew Harley GOSS Australia OGE +13
5 Mark CAVENDISH Great Britain SKY +14
6 Geraint THOMAS Great Britain +16
7 Manuele BOARO Italy SAX +19
8 Christian VANDEVELDE United States GRM +26
9 Joaquin RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Spain KAT +30
10 Alexander KRISTOFF Norway KAT +30 | 
