LIVE Giro d’Italia | Riders started on gravel strips of ‘mini Strade-Bianche’ | Giro

The three front runners are back on the asphalt. The third and final gravel strip follows in 24 kilometers.

Fall on the climb. Everyone is up quickly again, but it takes some time for a number of classification riders who had to hold back. Daniel Martínez, Cian Uijtdebroeks, Romain Bardet and Ben O’Connor were just behind.

Alaphilippe, Plapp and Sánchez have joined their fellow refugees.

The first gravel section has ended, but the second and most difficult of the day follows immediately: 4.8 kilometers uphill (fourth category).

On the first stretch, the leading group’s lead was lost by a minute. This one is now two minutes away.

The riders start the first gravel sector. This is 4.4 kilometers long and is mainly flat.

The lead of the leading group is three minutes. In more than ten kilometers they will be the first to start the gravel strips.

Filippo Fiorelli brutally battles the top sprinter, but Groves takes the points. The leading group’s lead is now slowly increasing two minutes. It now appears to have happened.

• Lucas Plapp
• Julian Alaphilippe
• Andrea Vendrame
• Matteo Trentin
• Pelayo Sanchez
• Filippo Fiorelli
• Kaden Groves

Six of them have left again, including Julian Alaphilippe. That is also striking Kaden Groves is included. Almost all sprinters have already been released from the peloton and he is still going for the full spoils intermediate sprint.

The escapees have been caught and everyone is back together.

Three riders ride away on Volterra, including: two-time world champion Julian Alaphilippe. They get the mountain points, but more importantly: they hit it first serious hole with the platoon. Can they continue?

• Filippo Fiorelli
• Aurélien Paret-Peintre
• Julian Alaphilippe

The ‘quiet’ 70 opening kilometers are on one killer pace passed and we still have no leading group. The stage is actually only really starting now that we are on the road upwards starts running in Tuscany.

So there is no question of a quiet start. The average speed: 51.4 kilometers per hour.

We are already fifty kilometers on the road and there is still no leading group.

Tim van Dyke is one of the riders who is aiming for the early flight. “I can join the leading group today. If that doesn’t work, I will support Cian (Uijtdebroeks ed.) for the rankings. I think the leading group has a good chance today“, he said in advance in conversation with Cycling Pro Net.

Meanwhile, sprinter also tries Danny van Poppel to sit with at the front.

There are a lot of riders who have their sights set on the early flight today, which leads to many attacks. It is in the opening kilometers therefore the pace is very high and there still is no leading group. The peloton rides averagely 51 kilometers per hour in the first 25 kilometers.

We have started. Will we immediately get the first leading group?

Israel – Premier Tech today is left with only five riders at the start instead of yesterday’s eight. Three riders crashed yesterday, including the leader Michael Woods. He still finished the stage, but showed mild symptoms of diabetes last night concussion and was taken off course by the team.

“I’m very disappointed about this, but I have to prioritize my health now. There are many other opportunities this season and I’m fully committed to that,” Woods said.

His teammate Riley Pickrell suffered from the same symptoms and no longer gets out. Nadav Raisberg did not complete yesterday’s stage due to the crash in which he suffered a fracture in his right hand incurred.

After seventy flat opening kilometers from Torre del Lago Puccini the course becomes hilly until the finish line. As a result, the journey will be 180 kilometers long in total difficult to control are. After the climb in Volterra (fourth category), there is an intermediate sprint, after which the riders three gravel roads encounter in the last fifty kilometers.

The first two strips are close together and the second goes uphill. Grotti is a fourth category climb and is extra challenging due to the gravel. Only one more follows after that gravel strip, but it remains very hilly until the finish. In the final kilometers to Rapolano Terme, the riders even encounter a section of a few hundred meters that rises to 18.8 percent.

General classification
1. Tadej Pogacar
2. Geraint Thomas + 0:46
3. Daniel Martinez + 0:47

Points classification
1. Jonathan Milan – 134
2. Tim Merlier – 89
3. Kaden Groves – 80

Mountains classification
1. Tadej Pogacar – 51
2. Lilian Calmejane – 32
3. Daniel Martinez – 26

Youth classification
1. Cian Uijtdebroeks
2. Alex Baudin + 0:45
3. Mauri Vansevenant +0:49

Welcome to the live blog of the sixth Giro stage from Torre del Lago Puccini to Rapolano Terme. Today things can go either way hills and gravel roads. Who wins this ‘mini Strade Bianche‘? Follow it here!