Igor Arrieta's miracle win: The Giro d'Italia stage finale that had absolutely everything

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Just when his Giro d'Italia dream looked over, Igor Arrieta returned from a crash and a disastrous wrong turn to complete one of cycling's most scarcely believable victories.

Crash, wrong turn, near wipe-out... still wins - Is this cycling’s wildest finish?

Video credit: TNT Sports

"You could not have scripted that."

After a day of brutal rain and chills, Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) survived a crash, a late wrong turn and near-disaster to take the most extraordinary win at the Giro d'Italia on Stage 5.

Rarely has a finale contained so much chaos - especially one featuring only two protagonists.

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Arrieta had broken clear of the rest of a 13-man breakaway with Afonso Eulalio (Bahrain Victorious) on the Cat. 2 Montagna Grande di Viggiano, with the pair pressing on over the soaked descent despite the treacherous roads.

Then came the carnage.

'Crash, crash, crash!' - Arrieta crashes after pushing on wet descent

Video credit: TNT Sports

First, Arrieta lost his front wheel on a corner and slammed into the barriers with 14km remaining, seemingly ending his hopes of a first WorldTour victory.

But moments later, Eulalio - alone at the front and virtually heading towards the pink jersey with overnight leader Giulio Ciccone almost seven minutes back in the peloton - also hit the deck on a slippery bend.

While Eulalio scrambled back onto his bike, a bloodied Arrieta suddenly reappeared in pursuit.

The two regrouped and cautiously negotiated the next few corners. At least initially.

As the finish approached in Potenza, Arrieta then underestimated another turn with just 2km remaining and vanished up the wrong road.

Rob Hatch declared on TNT Sports commentary that Arrieta was "raising the white flag, unintentionally so". On any other day, he might have been right, but this was no ordinary finale.

Arrieta returned to the course and set off in pursuit again - only to almost lose control once more on the next ramp, somehow keeping the bike upright.

And yet Eulalio, in pursuit of the race lead, had clearly emptied himself too.

The tiring Portuguese rider soon came back into view, with Arrieta surging onto his wheel before blasting past to complete a scarcely believable victory.

"Drama after drama after drama," Orla Chennaoui summarised on The Breakaway.

"For Igor Arrieta to have that comeback, not only physically but mentally, after the crash, going the wrong way, the frustration, the anger and no doubt embarrassment, to take the stage win was phenomenal."

Despite defeat on a wet and wild day, Eulalio now leads the general classification by 2'51" from Arrieta. Pre-race favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) is 15th at 6'22" after staying largely in the shadows in the opening week.

"Unbelievable. I've not seen a stage like that where there's so much drama between only two people," said Adam Blythe.

"Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong for him, and yet he still managed to pull it off. It's one of the good days for cycling when you see things like that. It's unbelievable."

Matt Stephens added: "What a way for it to unfurl. You could not have scripted that. We were literally sat here screaming at the television.

"At that point [when he went the wrong way], it was like 'game over'. But what a fightback. It's almost comical - you could not make this stuff up."

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