Thomas takes biggest road win of his career on Giro stage 5 as Pocagar keeps leader's pink jersey

LUCCA, Italy (AP) — Benjamin Thomas of France got the biggest victory of his career on the road as he won the fifth stage of the Giro d’Italia while Tadej Pogacar kept the leader’s pink jersey on Wednesday.

In a surprising result, Thomas won from a breakaway, sprinting to edge out Michael Valgren and Andrea Pietrobon at the end of the undulating 178-kilometer (111-mile) route from Genoa to Lucca.

“It was like a long, long, long team pursuit,” Thomas said with a laugh. “We did an amazing break and I don’t believe it. It was really, really hard in the finale, every pull was full gas. It’s unbelieveable.

“I think 10k to go we were with 50-40 seconds still and it was tailwind so we knew we could have played with the bunch. If we were going 60kph it was not for the bunch to close.”

The 28-year-old Thomas, who lives in Italy, is a four-time world champion on the track but had never won a stage in a grand tour. It was also a first win of the season for his team Cofidis.

Thomas almost won a stage in the Tour de France two years ago but was caught inside the final few hundred meters, in Carcassonne — a similarly stunning walled city to that of Lucca.

“I thought to Carcassonne in the last kilometer and I said ‘maybe today is my day’," he said. “I think nobody bet on the attackers today.”

Pogacar, the two-time Tour de France champion, finished safely in the peloton to remain 46 seconds ahead of Geraint Thomas and 47 seconds ahead of Daniel Martinez.

There were several crashes but no one appeared seriously injured and all the main contenders managed to avoid them.

The breakaway Thomas was part of was not the only one of the day as a group of four riders set off right at the start. However, they were never allowed much of an advantage as team Alpecin–Deceuninck led a fast pace in the peloton and they were caught shortly after the first of the day's two categorized climbs.

Thomas and another trio of riders attacked with around 78 kilometers remaining and swiftly built an advantage.

They had a lead of just over a minute as they hit the Montemagno climb and continued to work well together on the 20-kilometer run-in to the finish as they managed to hold off the charging peloton, which had hoped to set up their sprinters for the finale but got it badly wrong.

“I knew all the road of the final because I train there sometimes," Thomas said. "It was helping me to know with the cobbles and the corners and it's a nice thing to win in Italy, it means a lot for me.”

Thursday’s sixth stage is flat for the first part but then has two categorized climbs in the undulating second half of the 180-kilometer (112-mile) route from Torre Del Lago Puccini — on the outskirts of Viareggio — to Rapolano Terme.

“Today was an interesting day,” Pogacar said. "The last hour was very quick with a very tense finish.

"The breakaway stayed ahead because it got away late and nobody managed to reel them in. Tomorrow will be a stage to raced with a lot of attention so as not to lose time."

The Giro ends in Rome on May 26.

AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling

France's Benjamin Thomas celebrates winning the fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia, Tour of Italy cycling race, from Genoa to Lucca, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)

France's Benjamin Thomas celebrates winning the fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia, Tour of Italy cycling race, from Genoa to Lucca, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)

France's Benjamin Thomas celebrates on podium after winning the fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia, Tour of Italy cycling race, from Genoa to Lucca, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (Gian Mattia D'Alberto/LaPresse via AP)

The pack rides along the coastline during the fifth stage of the of the Giro d'Italia, Tour of Italy cycling race, from Genoa to Lucca, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)

Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, wearing the pink jersey of the race overall leader, pedals during the fifth stage of the of the Giro d'Italia, Tour of Italy cycling race, from Genoa to Lucca, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)

The pack of cyclists rides during the fifth stage of the of the Giro d'Italia, Tour of Italy cycling race, from Genoa to Lucca, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)

The pack of cyclists rides during the fifth stage of the of the Giro d'Italia, Tour of Italy cycling race, from Genoa to Lucca, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)

Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, wearing the pink jersey of the race overall leader, pedals during the fifth stage of the of the Giro d'Italia, Tour of Italy cycling race, from Genoa to Lucca, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a “hard landing” on Sunday, Iranian state media reported, without immediately elaborating.

Raisi was traveling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. State TV said the incident happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600 kilometers (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Traveling with Raisi were Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran's East Azerbaijan province and other officials, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. One local government official used the word “crash” to describe the incident, but he acknowledged to an Iranian newspaper that he had yet to reach the site himself.

Neither IRNA nor state TV offered any information on Raisi’s condition.

Rescuers were attempting to reach the site, state TV said, but had been hampered by poor weather conditions. There had been heavy rain and fog reported with some wind. IRNA called the area a "forest."

Raisi had been in Azerbaijan early Sunday to inaugurate a dam with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev. The dam is the third one that the two nations built on the Aras River. The visit came despite chilly relations between the two nations, including over a gun attack on Azerbaijan's Embassy in Tehran in 2023, and Azerbaijan's diplomatic relations with Israel, which Iran's Shiite theocracy views as its main enemy in the region.

Iran flies a variety of helicopters in the country, but international sanctions make it difficult to obtain parts for them. Its military air fleet also largely dates back to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Raisi, 63, is a hard-liner who formerly led the country’s judiciary. He is viewed as a protégé of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and some analysts have suggested he could replace the 85-year-old leader after his death or resignation from the role.

Raisi won Iran's 2021 presidential election, a vote that saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history. Raisi is sanctioned by the U.S. in part over his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 at the end of the bloody Iran-Iraq war.

Under Raisi, Iran now enriches uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels and hampers international inspections. Iran has armed Russia in its war on Ukraine, as well as launched a massive drone-and-missile attack on Israel amid its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It also has continued arming proxy groups in the Mideast, like Yemen's Houthi rebels and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

FILE- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi places his hands on his heart as a gesture of respect to the crowd during the funeral ceremony of the victims of Wednesday's bomb explosion in the city of Kerman about 510 miles (820 kms) southeast of the capital Tehran, Iran, Jan. 5, 2024. A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a “hard landing” on Sunday, May 19, 2024, Iranian state television reported, without immediately elaborating. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)