Caleb Yuan was out of luck this Giro d'Italia. The Australian was one of the leading riders who went missing in the sprint contest on stage 5, won by Arnaud Demare (Groupama FDJ) in Messina.

The Lotto-Soudal rider later admitted to suffering heavy casualties when he had an unfortunate mechanical problem at the foot of the only climb on the relatively flat stage.

"I had to change a wheel at the bottom of the Portella Mandrazzi climb. It was the worst possible time. The team did everything they could, but it was impossible to fight with the other teams," Ewan posted on Twitter after the stage.

The 174-km stage between Catania and Messina included a Category 2 climb over the Portella Mandrazzi.

Alpecin Phoenix set the pace on the climb to pull away from the sprinters. They managed to pull away from Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step Alfa Vinyl), but Ewan was already off the back of the pack after stopping to change wheels.

Teammate Rüdiger Selig stayed behind to help pick up the pace, but it was already too late. Neither Ewan nor Cavendish could get back to the front.

DeMare also pulled away late in the climb, but the team dropped back to allow DeMare to return to the peloton to contest the group sprint. Grupama-FDJ set a fast pace in the final 50 km as Cavendish and Ewan struggled to make contact again.

"You just have to try and see what you can do," Cavendish said after the stage. 'In a different situation, if it comes down to it, I'll probably come back. For example, we were 30 seconds behind FDJ and Caleb was behind us. Ironically, if it had been all of us together, we probably would have come back."

The first week of the Giro d'Italia was a tough one for Ewan, who crashed on the last 50m curve of stage 1 after hitting the wheel of Biniam Guillemay (Intermarché-Wantigovert). Mathieu Van der Pol (Alpecin-Phoenix) won the stage and took the leader's jersey. Apart from a few abrasions, there were no major injuries.

He then finished eighth in the sprint for the third stage in Balatonfured.

Ewan is a five-time stage winner of the Giro d'Italia in 2017, 2019, and 2021. He will be aiming for a stage win in this year's event and will get another chance on Thursday's sixth stage, Scalea, along with the other sprint favorites.