Italian cycling legend, Fausto Coppi never had one. Neither did five-time Tours de France winner, Bernard Hinault. Gnarly old riders telling 'back in my day' stories will tell you they're unnecessary, dangerous, and can turn riders into robots, controlled by the team director in the car.

So it's always wonderful to see a small break of no-name riders pull off a victory in a Grand Tour with the peloton closing in on them. Even despite real-time information on the closing gap to the tiring leaders, it's as though a furious swarm of 150 men, surging to get their sprinter to victory, can't catch three brave but oft-desperate comrades.

I say this because my sprint can be best described as a ‘wet sail.' In my Grand Tour Stage Victory fantasy #1, that's me in the break, riding for hours through rain and wind. When we get a few kilometres from the finish, I am the fastest non-fast rider there.

(In fantasy #2, maybe I could be Fabian Cancellara, accelerating off the front of the peloton in a devastating attack that takes the sprinters' teams by surprise, but I won't go on to scenarios #3-#87. Trust me, training solo 600km/week allows ample time for constructing various Great Victories!)

Today, in stage five of the Giro d'Italia, four men were in a long break and after it stuck, 15km in to the 162km stage, they worked well together: a German, 2 Frenchies and a Japanese rider.

None were a threat to Italy's new-found object of adoration, Vincenzo Nibali, the wearer of the maglia rosa for race leader.

Four hours later, in the closing kilometres, a stage victory would mean a piece of immortality on a day dedicated to the great Fausto Coppi.

I sat in the warmth of my friends' living room in Varese watching the stage live, after having done a long ride in the rain earlier in that morning.

The Italian TV commentators seemed certain that the peloton would catch them, barely hundreds of metres from the line.

Sprinters' names like Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre), Greg Henderson (Sky), Graeme Brown (Rabobank) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) were thrown about like expletives in a bar, and it was easy to tell that the Italian, Petacchi, would win in glorious fashion. For Italy, for Coppi, for la bella vita... oh it was going to be PERFETTO!

In the closing seconds, the break was down to three, and Team Lampre could be forgiven for screaming "Damn those desperate non-sprinters and how they will not yield!"

The French rider, Jerome Pineau (Quickstep) had no time to even zip up or display his stage winning victory salute - the firing of the arrow, rocking the baby and double fist pump are all very popular these days.

His face showed sheer joy, and made for a photo definitely worthy of the poolroom - the fastest men in the race powering at 60 kilometres an hour towards his back wheel caught him 100 metres too late.

They made a furious blur, and then a series of disappointed but optimistic interviews. "Si, si, la squaddra é troppo ritardo" (Petacchi) and "yeah, mate, the team did their best" (Brownie).

There's always tomorrow.

Bridie O'Donnell is an Australian professional rider with UCI Team Valdarno (alongside 2009 World Champion, Tatiana Guderzo, and Italian Champion, Monia Baccaille) and spends six months of each year in Tuscany (where she is now) and six months in Melbourne. After the European season, she will compete in the 2010 Melbourne World Championships. She will be a regular cycling columnist for BackPageLead - (when she's not filing for her blog, Bridie.com.au.)