Pelayo Sanchez has won the sixth stage in the Giro d’Italia. The Spaniard from Movistar was the fastest in the sprint of a leading group after an entertaining stage on gravel roads. Julian Alaphilippe seemed to have good credentials, but came second. The leader’s jersey remains on Tadej Pogacar’s shoulders.
Seventy kilometers flat. Followed by a climb to Volterra of almost ten kilometers. Once there, an undulating terrain towards the finish, with three gravel lanes. That was the sixth stage in a nutshell, at least on paper. In practice it was a matter of guessing who had which ambition for the stage on Thursday. Was it a stage before the flight? Or an opportunity for the classification men to gain time on some competitors?
Long battle for leading group, nice couple with Groves and Alaphilippe takes the lead
From the start it was a huge battle for the flight. At every opportunity we saw riders attacking, almost no team was left behind. It went very quickly, at 53 per hour in the first hour. But, no one got away… No rider or group took a lead of more than ten seconds. Simon Clarke, Julian Alaphilippe, Mikkel Honoré, Tim van Dijke, Giulio Pellizari. Just a selection of names that tried, but didn’t get far.
Ultimately, the climb of Volterra, which started after 70 (!) kilometers of racing, was necessary to ensure selections. The sprinters released here and more men tried. We saw Gijs Leemreize participate and Alaphilippe also tried again. This time an attempt was successful. The Frenchman looked strong and was accompanied by six men: Filippo Fiorelli of Bardiani, Matteo Trentin of Tudor, Luke Plapp of Jayco-AlUla, Kaden Groves of Alpecin-Deceuninck, Pelayo Sanchez of Movistar and Andrea Vendrame of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale. After fifteen minutes they had a three minute lead. And then the Strade Bianche strips still had to come…
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INEOS Grenadiers does executioner work on Strade Bianche paths, including Uijtdebroeks against the plain
As those gravel roads became increasingly visible, this caused an increased level of nervousness in both the leading group and the peloton. Plapp – who had now seen that he was virtually leader – increased the pace at the front, with the result that Trentin, Vendrame and Fiorelli had to let go. Sanchez and Alaphilippe were able to follow, giving us a leading three. At about the same time, INEOS Grandiers accelerated in the peloton. And that seemed not only to keep leader Geraint Thomas safe, but also to go for a stage victory with overture winner Jhonatan Narváez. In no time, Alaphilippe and co’s lead was chipped away, after which an exciting cat-and-mouse game unfolded. Particularly striking was the great head work of Thymen Arensman.
And if that wasn’t enough of a spectacle, there was also a crash in the group with favorites. The main victims (read: they were at least held up) were Cian Uijtdebroeks, Daniel Felipe Martinez and Ben O’Connor, who were all able to continue on their way and quickly rejoined. Remarkably, the INEOS gentlemen stopped pushing again when the lead was only one minute. That of course suited the three leaders very well. The lead increased rapidly, quickly to about two and a half minutes.
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Many crashes and beautiful cat-and-mouse game, Alaphilippe loses sprint to Sanchez: Pogacar retains pink
It seemed like a win for the leading group, although it was once again INEOS that pushed hard on the third and final gravel strip. Once again, the lead was cut significantly, making the battle for the day’s victory even more exciting. When entering the last twelve kilometers, the lead was still about a minute. There was also a major crash, which included Juan Pedro Lopez (Lidl-Trek), Will Barta (Movistar) and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious).
It was also exciting at the front. Alaphilippe looked strong, but after a mistake in judgment by Sanchez, he was able to get back on track to catch Plapp. The duo eventually succeeded, although the French former world champion seemed to have used up a lot of his powder. On the last climb of the day, a 700-meter climb at an average of 10 percent, the lead group had a lead of 45 seconds. There was constant attack, but no one really managed to get away.
Just before the top, it was Bardet from the peloton who accelerated, with Martinez, Pogacar and Uijtdebroeks immediately on his wheel. With three kilometers to go, the trio in front still had twenty seconds of lead left. That turned out to be enough, because the pace quickly stopped again. So a sprint-à-trois followed for the stage victory, with Alaphilippe as the biggest contender. Yet it was Loulou beaten by a lightning-fast Sanchez, who immediately managed to book a wonderful victory in his first year at Movistar. Plapp finished third, Andrea Piccolo had escaped from the peloton and finished fourth. The pink leader’s jersey remains in Pogacar’s possession.
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Results stage 6 Giro d’Italia 2024
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Tags: Eternal shame Alaphilippe Frenchman loses sprint Sanchez exciting gravel ride Pogacar retains pink
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