Mark Cavendish won stage 6 of the 2014 Tirreno-Adriatico in a solo finish today – ahead of his teammate Alessandro Petacchi and Peter Sagan.
Key rivals such as Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) and Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) did not factor in today’s 189 kilometer race from Bucchianico to Porto Sant’Elpidio.
By setting a fierce pace inside the final 40 kilometers, Cannondale ensured the absence of Kittel from today’s finale, as the German rider was dropped along the final climb of the day – despite the valiant efforts of his teammates to rejoin him with the main group.
Meanwhile, Lotto Belisol contributed to the pace making along with Cannondale, as Omega Pharma-Quick Step smartly bided its time in the pack.
With 15 kilometers remaining, Omega carefully started moving Cavendish up toward the front. As the race was heading into the final 2 kilometers, as crash took place that claimed Andre Greipel’s key lieutenants, that consequently left him and Sagan with the task of closing the gap on the Omega Pharma team. However, this came at a price, as both riders were clearly fatigued when the time came to contest the sprint.
“To get the lead-out technically perfect like we did we’re super, super happy with that,” Cavendish said.
“It would have been nice to sprint against Kittel and Greipel but we’ll celebrate tonight.”
Earlier in the race, a four-man breakaway group containing Peter Kennaugh (Sky) Jack Bauer (Garmin-Sharp), Steve Morabito (BMC) and Cesare Benedetti (NetApp-Endura), got underway from the outset of today’s stage.
Benedetti was later dropped by his companions with 20 kilometers remaining, and Kennaugh himself decided to "sit-up" inside the final 14 kilometers. With 10 kilometers remaining, the last two escapees were caught just as the peloton was putting the squash on a late attack from Philippe Gilbert (BMC).
The race concludes tomorrow with an individual time trial. Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) still maintains a healthy lead in the overall GC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqb-JQDU4yg
Stage 6 Results GBR 1 CAVENDISH, Mark (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) 4:16:15 ITA 2 PETACCHI, Alessandro (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) SVK 3 SAGAN, Peter (CANNONDALE) FRA 4 DEMARE, Arnaud (FDJ.fr) FRA 5 HUREL, Tony (EUROPCAR) GER 6 WAGNER, Robert (BELKIN) ITA 7 SBARAGLI, Kristian (MTN – QHUBEKA) POL 8 HUZARSKI, Bartosz (NETAPP – ENDURA) AUS 9 RENSHAW, Mark (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) ITA 10 APPOLLONIO, Davide (AG2R LA MONDIALE)
General Classification after Stage 6 ESP 1 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto (TINKOFF-SAXO) 25:17:51 COL 2 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander (MOVISTAR) + 2:08 CZE 3 KREUZIGER, Roman (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 2:15 COL 4 ARREDONDO MORENO, Julian David (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 2:39 FRA 5 PERAUD, Jean-Christophe (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 2:40 ESP 6 NIEVE ITURALDE, Mikel (SKY) + 2:50 ESP 7 MORENO FERNANDEZ, Daniel (KATUSHA) + 2:51 ITA 8 POZZOVIVO, Domenico (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 2:56 ITA 9 CARUSO, Giampaolo (KATUSHA) + 2:58 CRO 10 KISERLOVSKI, Robert (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 3:06
You must be logged in to post a comment.
