Stage five of the 2013 Giro d’Italia followed a pattern set by its predecessors in this 96th edition by providing high drama. 

John Degenkolb’s sprint from the wreckage of some of his own Argos-Shimano sprint train to overhaul Marco Canola (Bardiani-Valvole), when victory for the Italian had looked inevitable, provided a fitting finale to a race not thus far starved of action.

The almost entirely flat profile of the 203km parcours from Cosenza to Matera had suggested little more than a gift to the sprinters, but the fourth category slope of Montescaglioso disposed of that theory, and with it Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE).

Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) again raced with the fortune of a man who must now realise his assault on the Giro will not unfold in the flawless manner of his Tour de France triumph last year.

Caught on the wrong side of a crash in the final kilometre, Wiggins’ finishing time was originally calculated to have placed him outside the top 10 on GC. Its later revision (he remains sixth) will have done little to ease the sense that this is a race for which every second must be fought.

Official UCI WorldTour photographer, Stefano Sirotti, was on hand to capture these superb images.