Mäder lands biggest win of career day after Landa crashes out
Groupama-FDJ’s Valter becomes the first Hungarian to lead Giro
Evenepoel underlines general classification credentials
BikeExchange team car mows down Serry from behind
Gino Mäder won stage six of the Giro d’Italia as Egan Bernal and Dan Martin stepped forward in the battle for pink. Mäder took the win for Bahrain Victorious out of the breakaway, handing a huge morale boost to the team after their leader Mikel Landa crashed out 24 hours earlier.
Attila Valter took the maglia rosa off Alessandro De Marchi. Still, Bernal made a statement of intent as Ineos Grenadiers worked in the wind and rain to soften up rivals before the Colombian attacked the final climb to take second just ahead of De Marchi’s Israel Start-up Nation teammate Martin.
Only Remco Evenepoel and Giulio Ciccone could keep up, with the quartet putting seconds into Simon Yates, Hugh Carthy, and others. However, they all stepped forward in the standings as De Marchi was distanced on the mountainous 160km stage from Grotte di Frasassi to San Giacomo above Ascoli Piceno.
Groupama-FDJ’s Valter, 22, started the day in the best young riders’ white jersey but had stated his intent to swap it for pink. “It’s good to make jokes in the morning but to believe it is another story,” he said. “I could not be more surprised. I knew I had good climbing legs, but I had to stick with the best climbers in the world. I could cry. I’m so happy; it’s just incredible.”
The Hungarian now leads by 11 seconds from Evenepoel, with the Belgian can stick with the main favorites so far in his first race back from the fractured pelvis suffered in Il Lombardia last year. Bernal is a further five seconds back in third, with EF Education Nippo’s Carthy up to sixth, 38 seconds down, Martin in ninth at 47 seconds, and BikeExchange’s Yates in 10th a further two seconds back.
After Landa and Bernal’s teammate Pavel Sivakov was abandoned with broken bones on Wednesday night, Joe Dombrowski and François Bidard were also non-starters in the morning as the race continued to count the cost of the crash late on stage five. “Yesterday was such a sad day with us losing Landa,” Mader said. “We decided to ride in his honor today.” PA
03:16 pm
Bernal is runner-up but up to third overall
Egan Bernal is second ahead of Dan Martin (third), Remco Evenepoel (fourth), and Giulio Ciccone (fifth). Attila Valter (Groupama-FDJ) has just become the new race leader, while Evenepoel moves up to second on general classification, with Bernal up to third.
Not such a great day for Hugh Carthy (EF Education-Nippo), Simon Yates (BikeExchange), and Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana-Premier Tech), who lost 17sec to Evenepoel on the stage. Carthy moved up three places but now trails the Belgian by 27sec, while Yates is 38sec down after just two days in the medium – but challenging – mountains.
Chuck, in the small matter of the controversy of the BikeExchange team car driving into the back of Pieter Serry (Deceuninck-Quick Step), one suspects this is a day the Aussie squad will want to forget. I’m not entirely sure what will happen to the driver, but I would not be surprised to see BikeExchange have one of their cars that drives into cyclists – kicked off the race. Perhaps only for a few days, but that may impact the Briton’s assault on the pink jersey, which, at best, could be described as a ‘slow burner’.
03:15 pm
Mäder is Victorious!
Gino Mäder has won stage six at the Giro d’Italia. A great result from the second-year pro who, as mentioned at the start of the day, endured heartache at Paris-Nice when he was pipped at the line by Primoz Roglic. Not today Gino, not today. Coming a day after Mikel Landa crashed out of the race, that will give the team a huge boost.
03:14 pm
500 meters to go
Gino Mäder is holding on and will win the stage a day after his Bahrain Victorious teammate Mikel Landa crashed out.
03:13 pm
1km to go
Remco Evenepoel is on the wheel of Egan Bernal, as is Giulio Ciccone and Dan Martin, but there is no sign of rivals Simon Yates, Hugh Carthy, or Aleksandr Vlasov, who may lose time here.
03:12 pm
1.5km to go – Bernal attacks
Ominous for the general classification contenders. Egan Bernal attacks and cannot shake off his rivals, but the Colombian goes again.
03:11 pm
1.7km to go
Joao Almeida pulls on the front on behalf of Deceuninck-Quick Step teammate Remco Evenepoel.
03:10 pm
1.9km to go
Gino Mäder leads the reduced peloton by 57sec.
03:09 pm
2.1km to go
Jai Hindley (DSM) is dropped.
03:08 pm
3km to go
Daniel Martínez (Ineos Grenadiers) clips off the front of the peloton, and the Colombian rider is pursuing Gino Mader.
03:06 pm
3.2km to go
Gino Mäder has pursued glory; the Swiss drops Bauke Mollema but Dario Cataldo is onto his wheel.
03:05 pm
3.5km to go
Deceuninck-Quick Step moves to the front row. Is Remco Evenepoel feeling strong? He has two teammates pulling him up this climb, just ahead of Movistar and Marc Soler, who arrived at the Giro in good condition, having won a stage at the Tour de Romandie.
03:03 pm
4.5km to go
The leading group of general classification contenders comprises around 20 riders, and they are nearing the steepest part of the climb> Will there be an attack?
03:01 pm
5km to go
The road is still damp, but the sun is showing itself for the first time. DSM is moving up toward the front, is Romain Bardet going to attack again, or is last year’s runner-up Jai Hindley feeling strong?
03:00 pm
6km to go
Eerily quiet right now. Gianni Moscon did a brief turn on the front of Ineos Grenadiers, but Jonathan Castroviejo then replaced him. The deficit on the stage leaders is down to 1min 38sec. Plenty of looking around in the group, Marc Soler (Movistar) is near the front, alongside Hugh Carty.
02:56 pm
7.5km to go
BikeExchange, EF Education-Nippo, Astana-Premier Tech, and Deceuninck-Quick Step all have riders behind the Ineos Grenadiers boys who are, I suspect, aiming to set up Egan Bernal here today.
02:54 pm
8.5km to go
George Bennett is fighting back on. The leading trio of Dario Cataldo, Gino Mäder, and Bauke Mollema are holding on out front, their advantage at 2min 8sec.
02:50 pm
10km to go
George Bennett, the Kiwi that arrived hoping to lead the general classification challenge for Jumbo-Visma, has been dropped. Filippo Ganna, meanwhile, has peeled off the front allowing Ineos Grenadiers teammate Jonathan Castroviejo to take over on the front.
02:47 pm
SMIDSY
Oh, good grief, the BikeExchange team car has just been driven into the back of Pieter Serry (Deceuninck-Quick Step)! It appears that the passenger in the BikeExchange car was leaning out of the window and, perhaps, exchanging something with the race directors’ car. That isn’t very good.
02:45 pm
12km to go – a reminder of what this climb looks like
02:43 pm
13km to go
And Filippo Ganna goes onto the San Giacomo, and he will not stop. Matej Mohoric, by contrast, has pulled the parachute, and his day is done.
02:39 pm
Crash!
Felix Grosschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) hit the deck as the peloton went around a left-hander approaching this final, potentially decisive day’s climb.
02:35 pm
16.5km to go
The peloton has caught the game over for Romain Bardet, Alberto Bettiol, and Giulio Ciccone et al.. The four-person break’s lead has dropped slightly to 2min 43sec. However, some strong riders up the road may struggle to hold off the chasing pack over a climb of this length. One suspects Ciccone will be scratched off Bettiol’s Christmas card list shortly.
02:31 pm
18.5km to go
Remco Evenepoel, the 21-year-old making his grand tour debut, is surrounded by a posse of Deceuninck-Quick Step riders. He appears to be getting a little advice from his more experienced teammates. The former footballer leading the Belgian’s lesser-spotted general classification charge was just seen squeezing every last drop from an energy gel. He will need that on the final climb, which is not far away now.
02:29 pm
20km to go
Romain Bardet, Alberto Bettiol, and Giulio Ciccone caught up with Simon Guglielmi (Groupama-FDJ), Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin-Fenix), Simone Ravanelli (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) who were part of the earlier breakaway, the six-man group now trails the leading quartet by 2min 8sec.
02:27 pm
22.5km to go
Aleksandr Vlasov has finally managed to get his jacket on.
02:26 pm
25km to go
Aleksandr Vlasov is doing a Jai Hindley and struggling to get his rain jacket on. The Russian who is one of the favorites at this year’s Giro d’Italia appears to be working in these conditions, as is Lancashire’s Hugh Carthy looks to have lost some of the feelings in his hands.
02:20 pm
30km to go
Alberto Bettiol is getting very annoyed with Giulio Ciccone, gesturing and pointing at his Italian compatriot, refusing to take a turn. Romain Bardet, meanwhile, is cracking on with a decent shift. Still, his trio trails the leading quartet by just over two minutes, while the Filippo Ganna-powered peloton is another minute back.
02:14 pm
35km to go
Is there no stopping Filippo Ganna? The world-time trial champion is still on the front, dragging his teammates down this descent. It is still horrible weather, and these riders must be starting to get pretty chilly down to their shorts and jerseys without any rain kit. Not the temperature for my pals Jordan and Alex, who stick to Zwift when it is raining (they are young and don’t know any better).
02:08 pm
40km to go
Alberto Bettiol is chatting with Romain Bardet, urging them to work together. Still, Giulio Ciccone is not doing his turns – his Trek-Segafredo teammate Bauke Mollema is in the breakaway, so his team will not want the Italian to help close that gap. Bardet, on his day, would undoubtedly be a significant threat to Mollema should they all manage to go to the line together. One sense, however, that Ineos Grenadiers and the big general classification hopefuls – including the likes of Simon Yates (Bike Exchange), Hugh Carthy (EF Education-Nippo), and Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-Quick Step) – may not want that scenario to play out today.
02:05 pm
42.5km to go
A couple of Astana-Premier Tech riders were forced to stop at the roadside, but not sure who they were. Presumably, Aleksandr Vlasov, their young Russian and general classification hopeful, wasn’t involved, as the TV cameras didn’t seem overly concerned.
02:02 pm
45km to go
Hello, here comes Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), Romain Bardet (DSM) and Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-Nippo). Ciccone and Bardet have a history of these types of conditions. I like to call both proper racers and would be top-rated stage winners today.
02:00 pm
47km to go
The breakaway has split on this descent, leaving the quartet of Dario Cataldo (Movistar), Gino Mäder (Bahrain Victorious), Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) in front.
01:58 pm
50km to go
Wet road, dry road, wet road, dry road. This descent is horrible looking in these conditions. There are stretches of rough asphalt followed by smooth, freshly laid tarmac, which can turn into skating rinks when new and wet. Probably beautiful in dry and warm weather, but less so when it is blowing a gale and lashing it.
01:54 pm
53km to go
The kilometers fly by as the breakaway tears down this descent while Ineos Grenadiers lead the reduced peloton a shade over four minutes back. We hear that Domenico Pozzovivo (Qhubeka-Assos) has lost contact with the leading chasing group. Not great for the climber, who is his team’s general classification man.
01:52 pm
55km to go
Unsurprisingly, demon descender Matej Mohoric is leading the way down this mountain. Bauke Mollema survived a scare a few moments ago, misjudging a left-hander. The Dutchman was forced to unclip, using a stretched-out leg to regain his balance.
01:47 pm
60km to go
Ineos Grenadiers are doing what Ineos Grenadiers do and have blown the race to pieces blowing on the ascent of the Forca di Presta. It is windy up near the summit, which is plateau-like, so the riders are pretty exposed.
Hugh Carthy (EF Education-Nippo) was just spotted putting in a significant effort to close a small gap. Remember, once over the top, there’s a very long – 40km – descent, but it is very wet and windy, so if you are in any way religious, please say a prayer right now for these riders.
01:42 pm
62km to go
Hello, what’s this? The peloton has dropped Alessandro De Marchi as Filippo Ganna rides hard on the front, followed by a posse of Ineos Grenadiers teammates. That injection in pace has led to the breakaway’s advantage plummeting to just 3min. Is Egan Bernal feeling strong today and ready to launch his general classification campaign?
01:33 pm
67. km to go
Pictures are back for now, and Filippo Ganna is drilling it on the front of the peloton on the descent of the Forca di Gualdo that kicks back up to the next short climb, the category three Forca di Presta. The gap on the breakaway is five minutes. It is a mixed day in the mountains, where riders go from wet roads to bone-dry asphalt, which can be troublesome on descents.
01:19 pm
Landa was released from the hospital
Daniele Zaccaria, the team doctor at Bahrain Victorious, has revealed in a short team statement that Mikel Landa has been released from the hospital and will fly home before undergoing surgery on Friday.
“The team arranged a private flight from Rimini to Vitoria, and the medical plan is to undergo surgery tomorrow morning there. After the surgery, he will start all the treatment needed for prompt and safe recovery”.
01:13 pm
Oh no, no, Giro
I’m unsure why there are no pictures right now, but I’m guessing it is due to inclement weather. To broadcast a bike race in the mountains – and elsewhere – a small aircraft circles above the race, high above the clouds, of which a satellite bounces technical stuff that I don’t understand to a big box somewhere else that magically turns these signals into moving pictures.
In addition to the aircraft, there’s usually a helicopter or two from which a brave cameraperson or two capture the action. When the weather is terrible, the signals can go down or even be told to land. Either that or somebody has accidentally pulled a plug out of the wrong socket. Again, I’m only speculating here, but that may be why there are no pictures now.
01:01 pm
78km to go
I’ve just seen live pictures of the finish line, which looks windy. Unfortunately, live images have again gone west. Soz.
12:58 pm
80km to go
The breakaway and peloton are onto the lower slopes of the category two Forca di Gualdo climb that looks a little like this.
The climb is of medium length at 10.5km with an average gradient of 7.3%, but it pitches up to 12% in the early part. Once over the top, the road drops before kicking up briefly and then rising towards the category three Forca di Presta (4.9km at 4.8%).
12:53 pm
85km to go
The rain has stopped, and the roads are, thankfully, dry. Manuel Belletti (Eolo-Kometa), the former stage winner who crashed a few days ago, abandoned the Giro.
12:40 pm
90km to go
Alex Dowsett is pulling on the front of the peloton; the Essex rider is sitting just ahead of Israel Start-up Nation teammate Matthias Brändle, the pair no doubt making sure the breakaway doesn’t gain too much time. Their teammate, Alessandro De Marchi, leads the race, so the team’s sponsors and management (er, and the riders) will want to keep hold of the maglia rosa for as long as possible.
A penny for the thoughts of Dan Martin, though, who arrived at the Giro carrying the general classification hopes of the team on his narrow shoulders. Nobody is expecting De Marchi to win the Giro, and I am speculating here Martin may prefer it if his teammates were not burning too many matches before necnecessaryiro d’Italia 2021, stage six – live updates – GETTY IMAGES
12:25 pm
100km to go
Television pictures have returned, and I think we now know why they vanished – it is tipping it down. I can confirm that Geoffrey Bouchard and Bauke Mollema have bridged over to increase that breakaway to eight, whose advantage on the peloton is hanging at around five minutes. There are some strong riders in there, but if they are thinking about the win, they may need a more significant gap – Mollema, by the way, was many people’s tip for today’s stage. Still, Gino Mäder in this group may mean that Israel’s Start-up Nation will do all it can to keep them on a tight leash. Cats and dogs. Cats and dogs.
12:22 pm
And then there were eight.
Ignore my previous post. Everything I said was wrong. Ignore my last post. Everything I said was wrong. Ignore my previous post. Everything I said was wrong. Ignore my previous post. Everything I said was wrong. Basically, ignore my previous post. Everything I said was wrong. ErBasically, miss my last post. Everything I said was wrong. It appears that the transponders have been playing up, and the television pictures have gone – again, this happened during Tuesday’s hilly stage t, oo – but Eurosport is reporting that Geoffrey Bouchard and Bauke Mollema have caught up with the break. Going nowhere, not very fast
Geoffrey Bouchard and Bauke Mollema, the two riders stuck in no man’s land, have made no further inroads on the advantage of the six-man break and trail them by 34sec while, as it stands, the peloton is another 5min down with 105km of the stage remaining.
12:11 pm
Remember me?
If you are scratching your head thinking you know the name Gino Mäder but can’t figure out where from – he’s the Swiss rider who was pipped just short of the line at Paris-Nice back in March by that pesky Primoz Roglic. Today Mäder has another Slovenian keeping an eye on him, but fortunately, Matej Mohoric is a teammate, so he shouldn’t mug him off. Or will he?
12:02 pm
Mäder, the virtual leader of the Giro
Having started the stage 3min 58sec down on general classification, Gino Mäder (Bahrain Victorious) has become the virtual leader in the Giro d’Italia thanks to the 4min 30 lead the six-man breakaway has on the peloton and Alessandro De Marchi. In my mind, I am hoping that the Swiss climber listened to this on his Sony Walkman before setting off to ride his bike this morning.
11:55 am
As it stands . . .
Hello again. The race returns to the Apennines today, so we expect to see a battle for the general classification, or at least a fight to see who will carry the maglia rosa into Friday’s stage. So the reduced peloton of 179 riders got today’s stage underway ‘proper’ when they passed KMO at 11.57 am (BST), which was a very lively start. So the reduced peloton of 179 riders got today’s stage underway ‘proper’ when they passed KMO at 11.57 am (BST), which was a lively start. So the reduced peloton of 179 riders got today’s stage underway ‘proper’ when they passed KMO at 11.57 am (BST), which was a lively start. So the reduced peloton of 179 riders got today’s stage underway ‘proper’ when they passed KMO at 11.57 am (BST), which was a lively start. So the reduced peloton of 179 riders got today’s stage underway ‘proper’ when they passed KMO at 11.57 am (BST), which was a lively start.
Stage six profile
As you can see from the above profile, a couple of sizeable peaks smack bang in the middle of the stage, followed by a descent around 40km long. The road is vast and not too technical but rough in places, so no rider will want to hit any potholes at speed. At the foot of the final climb is the day’s day’s second intermediate sprint, where bonus seconds are on offer before the road kicks up toward the race’s first summit finish.
So, what do the categorized climbs look like?
The first category two, Forca di Gualdo,, is of medium length at 10.5km at an average gradient of 7.3%, though pitches up to 12% in the early part. Once over the top, the road drops before kicking up briefly and then rising towards the category three Forca di Presta (4.9km at 4.8%).
Forca di Gualdo
Following that long descent, the day’s final climb is 15.5km long at an average gradient of 6%, which rises into double digits just beyond the 4.5km mark.
San Giacomo
A large breakaway formed earlier,, comprising some big names and a few riders that threatened Alessandro De Marchi’s maglia rosa. Still, the peloton did not seem too keen on allowing another big move to dictate the stage. Following a flurry of further attacks, a six-man breakaway comprising Dario Cataldo (Movistar), Simon Guglielmi (Groupama-FDJ), Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin-Fenix), Gino Mäder (Bahrain Victorious), Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), and Simone Ravanelli (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) formed a decent lead, with the pair of Geoffrey Bouchard (Ag2r-Citroën) and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) stuck where no rider wants to be – in no man’s land.
09:51 am
Race marshal update
Race organizers RCS have just returned to Telegraph Sport with an update on the race marshal who was hit by a rider during yesterday’s stage, the incident that led to Mikel Landa, Pavel Sivakov, François Bidard, and Joe Dombrowski all abandoning.
Unsurprisingly, the marshal is taking a break from his duties today and, thankfully, did not sustain any fractures or broken bones in the incident. In a short statement, RCS told Telegraph Sport: “The X-ray of the hand and sternum/breastbone revealed no fractures. He will be resting today, but no serious injury was reported.”
09:40 am
No, go for Joe Do . . .
Joe Dombrowski (UAE Team Emirates) will not start today’s stage. The American rider who was the leader in the mountains classification following his stage win on Tuesday – the biggest win of his career – sustained a concussion in the crash yesterday that also did for Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) and François Bidard (Ag2r-Citroën).
07:35 am
Relive the highlights – and low points – from yesterday’s stage
06:00 am
Ciao!
Hello and welcome to our live blog from stage six at the Giro d’Italia, the 160-kilometer run from Grotte di Frasassi to Ascoli Piceno.
And so, we wake up to another day at the Giro. With a heavy heart, I can confirm that general classification contender Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers) pulled out of the race hours after yesterday’s stage finish, having injured a shoulder in a crash.
Sivakov arrived at the race as co-leader with the British squad, depending on who you believe, though most likely he was always there to play the role of No 2 to Egan Bernal, whose fitness – outside of the team, at least – was unknown. Whatever the role he was due to play, his departure from the race was a massive blow to Ineos Grenadiers. It will be a bitter pill for the Russian whose hopes at last year’s Tour de France were washed away following a crash on a treacherous opening stage in Nice.
Sivakov’s departure followed the premature exit of Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious), who left the race by ambulance, having been involved in a high-speed collision with Joe Dombrowski (UAE Team Emirates) and a race marshal. That was a devastating blow for the Basque, who looked in fine form and had a solid team built around supporting his challenge on the pink jersey.
François Bidard (Ag2r-Citroën) was involved in the same crash that left the poor old race marshal lying on the road – Telegraph Sport has contacted race organizers RCS to enquire about his wellbeing and is awaiting a reply – and although he limped over the line, will not start today having fractured his left clavicle in the incident.
Speaking of the pink jersey, the current holder Alessandro De Marchi (Israel Start-up Nation) d, described the finale to yesterday’s stage as “a crazy circus”. However, the Italian did manage to complete the 177-kilometer ride from Modena to Cattolica unscathed and so will wear the maglia rosa for a second successive day.
Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka-Assos) may have missed out on winning a stage at his home race yet again – the European and Italian national champion has more runner-up spots without having won a set than any other rider in the history of the Giro – but at least he added to his jersey collection and will wear the maglia calamine, the cyclamen colored top, a leader in the points classification today.
A day after reaching a career-high having won his biggest-ever race, Joe Dombrowski (UAE Team Emirates), as mentioned, came down to earth with a bang on the run-in yesterday, causing him to lose his second spot on general classification. Attila Valter (Groupamvisiedvisitedvisitedvisitedhe the 22-year-old Hungarian, kept hold of the top place in the youth classification and will be mountain classification leader for a second successive day. However, the American visited the podium on his 30th birthday to collect a second maglia Azzurra, the blue jersey, as a mountain classification leader. However, the American saw the stage on his 30th birthday to order a second maglia Azzurra, the blue jersey, as a mountain classification leader.
