Peloton comes late to the party at Giro's Stage 5

A three-man breakaway survived to win Stage 5 at the Giro d'Italia on Thursday with the hot breath of the peloton on their backs.

Jerome Pineau of QuickStep led the trio across the finish line in Novi Ligure after they rode ahead of the peloton for nearly the entire 100-mile distance. There was no change among the overall leaders, as Vincent Nibali finished the day with a 13-second lead over Liquigas teammate Ivan Basso.

Although Pineau won the stage, it looks like you can credit Japan's Yukiya Arashiro (Bbox) for delivering the breakaway to the top 3 finish.

Breakaway lead

The break had a 5:40-minute lead over the peloton when the sprinters' teams started to close the gap. While the members of the break worked together, they steadily lost time to the peloton. The trio appeared doomed when HTC-Columbia took up the chase with 4 miles to go, then the trio came within sight of the peloton when Sky joined Columbia at the front.

When they realized the peloton was only seconds behind, the three appeared to relax momentarily as if they were giving up. But the front of the peloton couldn't quite sort itself out.

Refusing to quit, Arashiro attacked his companions in the closing kilometer and the other two followed, either from rivalry or habit. Pineau passed Julian Fouchard (Cofidis), who finished second, and Arashiro.

Missing number 2

A fourth rider, Paul Voss of Milram, dropped out of the breakaway after he had accumulated enough points to secure the mountain leader's jersey for another stage.

Tyler Farrar (Garmin Transitions) crossed the finish in fourth place. It's easy to assume that he would have had his second Giro stage victory if the peloton had pressed the chase a little harder in the final mile.

Friday's Stage 5 is a 107 mile bike race from Fidenza to Marina di Carrara. It features the first major climb of the race, the Passo del Brattello.

Top 10 overall after Stage 3

1. Vincenzo Nibali, Italy, Liquigas

2. Ivan Basso, Italy8, Liquigas, 13 seconds

3. Valerio Agnoli, Italy, Liquigas, 20 seconds

4. Matthew Goss, Austria, HTC-Columbia, 26 seconds

5. Andre Greipel, Germany, HTC Columbia, same

6. Alexandre Vinokourov, Kazahkstan, Astana, 33 seconds

7. Vladimir Karpets, Russia, Katusha, 39 seconds

8. Richie Porte, Austria, Saxo Bank, 45 seconds

9. David Millar, Great Britain, Garmin Transitions, same

10. Paolo Tiralongo, Italy, Astana, 59 seconds