Franciso Ventoso timed his sprint for the last second to surge past Alessando Petacchi on the final climb into Fiuggi. Rabobank?s Pieter Weening got another day in the maglia rosa.
Image ? 2011 Cor Vos/Bike World News
Thursday?s 6th stage of the 2011 Giro d?Italia was 216km, and despite being classified by race organizers as a medium mountain stage, reached no more than 450m elevation as it made it?s way further south into Italy. Like yesterday?s pass through the strade bianchi, the weather today was hot and dry though the riders did not have to contend with Wednesday?s dust.
As expected, the day started with a breakaway and five riders were able to get away:?Jussi Veikkanen, Kristof Vandewalle, Yaroslav Popovych, Sacha Modolo and Veunchelen. Their lead never got much beyond five minutes, but Popovych at least had his Team Radioshack teammates at the head of the peloton keeping down the chase attempts.
Rabobank moved to the front of the peloton with around 80km remaining and started to get some fire under the peloton. With Pieter Weening in the maglia rosa, they had an interest in keeping things under control.
By the 60km mark, the gap is close to three minutes, making it almost certain that a catch will come. Yaroslav Popovych was briefly the leader on the road, but with 4?20? back in the GC from Weening, that?s no longer the case.
Farnese Vini took their turn at the front, working for?Visconti or Gatto, who both placed well in yesterday?s stage. Lampre, HTC and Saxo Bank were also taking pulls. Still, with just 20km to go, the leaders still had a two minute lead.?Veikkanen drops out of the escape group, leaving just three riders at the front after Sacha Modolo slipped out earlier.
Colnago ? CSF Inox rider Stefan Pirazzi attacks the peloton in an attempt to bridge to the leaders. It?s said he?s from the area, so knowledge of the local roads may be in his favor. Still, the gap continued to drop to 1?23? with Movistar and Androni driving the chase.
With just 10km remaining, Omega Pharma-Lotto and Lampre are driving the chase with Michelle Scarponi just a few riders off of the front. The gap had dropped to 48 seconds as the leaders were on the final climb into the medieval town of Fiuggi.
Popovych took a big pull at the front and as he pulled off, Kristof Vandewalle took the opportunity to attack. Vincenzo Nibali and Alberto Contador moved up to join Scarponi near the front of the bunch. David Millar attacks the peloton and gets a small gap. He finished more than three minutes down yesterday, so it?s unlikely that he?ll get the leader?s jersey back, but perhaps he?d like another stage win in his palmares.
With about 5km remaining, Vandewalle is all on his own with a 36 second lead. Millar?s attack was for naught and a number of other attacks spring up as he is caught. Radioshack and HTC-Highroad were controlling the peloton.
Vandewalle got caught and with an unsuccessful attack from Emanuelle Sella, the peloton was all together. With less than 2km to go, Team Sky was moving towards the front, but Danilo DiLuca and Alessandro Petacchi was up there as well. 1 km and Ale-Jet, Ventosa and Borut Bozic were all still sitting in the right spot. DiLuca attacks, but gets caught.
Ventoso had enough left in his legs and got the win. The Movistar rider sprinted at just the right time, leaving second place for Petacchi. Petacchi actually stopped sprinting, possibly suffering a mechanical at the wrong moment.
Brief Results:
General Classification after Stage 6:
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Source: http://www.bikeworldnews.com/2011/05/12/2011-giro-ditalia-stage-6-results/
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