On a stage 6 that took the Giro d’Italia peloton over gravel roads in Tuscany, Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar) bested former Strade Bianche winner Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick Step) to take the win out of a breakaway. Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla), the other survivor of the successful move, took third on the day.
The stage unfolded more quickly than the fastest estimated timetable had predicted, as the escapees and the chasing bunch rode a torrid pace over the gravel and the punchy climbs along the route. In the end, despite the best efforts of the Ineos Grenadiers and UAE Team Emirates in the peloton, the break prevailed.
Race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) finished safely in the peloton to maintain his grip on the pink jersey.
No rest for the weary in Tuscany
- The undulating terrain and the rough roads of stage 6 proved an irresistible draw for the breakaway-minded riders in the Giro peloton, but none of the moves over the first hour and a half were allowed to build up much of an advantage with everything chased down furiously from the pack behind.
- The escape that would ultimately succeed formed shortly before the intermediate sprint with a little less than 80 km to go. Alaphilippe, Sánchez, and Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) formed a lead trio and then they were joined by Groves’s Australian compatriot Plapp, Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R), Matteo Trentin (Tudor), and Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group Bardiani). Groves won the intermediate sprint, bolstering his maglia ciclamino chances.
- Plapp attacked the group on the gravel climb to Grotti and only Sánchez and Alaphilippe could follow. That trio would go on to contest the stage win, although it was uncertain whether the pack would catch them for quite a while as UAE and the Ineos Grenadiers pushed a high pace in the bunch. Sánchez almost crashed in a roundabout but managed to keep it upright.
- The escapees took some 30 seconds into the final 5 km and held on over a steep final climb to battle for the win in a sprint, although with little room for cat-and-mouse given the proximity of the peloton and Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost), who attempted to bridge.
- Plapp led the way into the final few hundred meters and then Alaphilippe jumped with Sánchez on his wheel. The 24-year-old Spaniard came around inside the last hundred meters to secure the win ahead of Alaphilippe.
Brief analysis
- While UAE did put in plenty of work setting the pace, Pogačar himself never really got into the mix for the stage win despite being the pre-race favorite, and he did not try to distance his GC rivals on the gravel or the climbs either. Perhaps he was saving energy for Friday’s time trial.
- For a time, Plapp was the virtual GC leader on the road, but the pack made sure to keep the gap to the break small even if they did not actually bring them back. Still, Plapp did claw back some GC time on the day.
- All three of the escapees put in big digs on the steep climb that topped out only a few kilometers from the finish, but no one could get clear. That seemed to be a boon for Alaphilippe, whose fast finish won him a Milan-San Remo title back in 2019.
- Plapp found himself in the unenviable position of leading the trio through the flamme rouge and on into the last few hundred meters. Alaphilippe and Sánchez quickly left him behind when they launched, but it was Sánchez and not the two-time world champ who prevailed in the sprint.
Since the start of the Giro, I tried to save energy because I didn’t have the shape to be at the front the first day, so I tried to save energy for today. Today I could be in the breakaway, but I could never imagine winning the stage. For me, it’s crazy. I don’t have words.
-An incredulous Pelayo Sánchez after his first Grand Tour stage win
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