Italian riders filled the podium at the end of the fifth stage of the Tour of the Med into La Garde, where Aqua e Sapone’s Gabriele Balducci pulled off a clear win at the end of 145km of racing over very lumpy terrain. Stage 2 winner Daniele Bennati, Lampre-Fondital, placed second, with Milram’s Mirco Lorenzetto taking third.

Stage 5

Balducci looks happy with his win

The win is good	How steep is that?
Too warm for a gilet	Caisse d’Epargne shepherd Gutierrez
Yellow jersey looks comfortable	Out of the saddle action

Stage 6

A finishing route like that of Milan-San Remo brought out the best in Italian sprinters Mirco Lorenzetto and Daniele Bennati, who could only be separated by photo finish camera at the end of a wet stage of 122km from Dolceacqua. The Milram rider edged out Lampre-Fondital’s Bennati to give the Italians four out of six stages, although Ivan Gutierrez of Spain retained the yellow jersey to win on general classification by 52seconds over countryman Ricardo Serrano (Tinkoff).

Separated by a hair

Caisse d’Epargne keep an iron grip on GC	Cheer up, you won
It’s not all sunny	Moinard, Bennati, Gutierrez, Rovny, Lorenzetto