Stage 5 | Pedara to Messina | Giro d’Italia 2017

The Giro d'Italia was island-hopping again after stage five, leaving Vincenzo Nibali's home town of Messina and heading across the water to the mainland.

With Richard Moore returning home for a few days, it's up to Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe to negotiate the journey and this episode features the ferry journey across the Strait of Messina that gives Nibali his nickname, The Shark.

The fifth stage of the race from Pedara to Messina was always going to be one for the sprinters but it was a relatively quiet day until the race reached the finish town. Luka Pibernik thought he had won the stage with a brilliantly-timed burst only to find that there was still a six-kilometre loop of the town to go. At the real finish, Fernando Gaviria continued Quick Step's fine opening week with his second stage win.

In this episode, which unfolds as Lionel and Daniel attempt to cross the three-kilometre stretch of water by ferry, we also hear from Mauro Vegni on boring stages (he was referring to the Tour de France), Brent Copeland and Kanstantin Siutsou of Bahrain-Merida about Javier Moreno's disqualification for pushing Diego Rosa off his bike and Hugh Carthy of Cannondale-Drapac, who had a great day at Mount Etna on Tuesday. We also discover why there isn't a bridge linking Sicily to the mainland.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Rapha and Science in Sport.