Androni-Giacattoli’s Serghei Tvetcov had done everything right in the first 100km of stage five in the Giro d’Italia – he got himself in the five man breakaway and was working hard on the front.
But on the winding descent from Barga, with 52km remaining to the finish up in Abetone, the Romanian went a little off piste, taking a right turn when the road actually swept round to the left.
It looks as if the rider realised his mistake as he sped towards a safety barrier on the corner, but couldn’t do anything about it. Eventually he ended up on the grass, unclipping rather uncomfortably and quickly getting back on the right path.
His unstylish dismount resulted in him breaking his left shoe in some way, with the Androni-Giacattoli mechanic forced to hang out of the team car and apply wrap some electrical tape around the offending area.
Fortunately, Tvetcov was able to make it back to his breakaway partners, who held a lead of over nine minutes with 35km remaining.
