POTENZA, Italy, May 13 (Reuters) - Portugal's Afonso Eulalio grabbed the overall lead in the Giro d'Italia despite having victory snatched away by Spaniard Igor Arrieta who recovered from going the wrong way to win a rain-drenched and chaotic stage five on Wednesday.
The Bahrain Victorious rider joined solo leader Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) at the front near the summit of the Montagna Grande di Viggiano climb and when Arrieta missed a turn on the entry to Potenza he looked certain to take the win.
But Arrieta, banging his handlebars in anger, had other ideas and put down the power to reel in Eulalio along the finishing straight and win his first Grand Tour stage.
"I was completely empty after the hard stage but so was Eulalio," Arrieta said.
"I kept pushing and when I got his wheel I knew he couldn't gofaster than me and thought I could win the stage."
Eulalio had looked in control but slid to the tarmac with around seven of the 203-km remaining, allowing Arrieta to catch him. He then appeared to have been gifted the stage when Arrieta got his bearings wrong and had to turn around.
But Eulalio had nothing left in the legs on the final uphill drag and had to settle for second place, although taking the race lead was some consolation for the 24-year-old.
"I don't know how I feel, it's crazy," he said. "We went all-in for the victory with Arrieta. Igor crashed, then I went alone for victory and the pink, then I crashed, and we were together again.
"In the final, I think we did a sprint, but it was not really a sprint because we were going super-slowly."
Arrieta had also crashed 13.5 km from the end of a cold and wet day that tested the resilience of the peloton.
CICCONE SLIPS TO SIXTH
Italian Giulio Ciccone, who had begun the 203-km stage in the pink jersey, finished seven minutes back in the main group and slipped down to sixth overall.
Eulalio now leads the GC standings by two minutes 51 seconds from Arrieta. Christian Scaroni is in third place, 3:34 back.
Arrieta's victory was a welcome boost for his team who lost GC contender Adam Yates and Australian Jay Vine and Spaniard Marc Soler, following a huge pile-up during the second stage in Bulgaria.
"I'm really, really happy to achieve this victory, it means a lot for me, because of the crash (on stage two) and all the team mates who went home," Arrieta said.
Thursday's sixth stage is a 142-km ride from Paestum to Napoli passing near Mount Vesuvius.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond and Toby Davis)
