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Giro d’Italia 2018 Stage 6

photo credits @ RCS

Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) claimed stage 6 of the Giro d’Italia today, after he escaped from the peloton along the higher slopes of Mount Etna before being joined by teammate Simon Yates, who rolled over the finishing line just behind the Colombian rider.

As a result, Yates propelled himself into the pink leader’s jersey with a 16-second lead over defending champion Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb).

Race Highlights

The first 50 kilometers of today’s stage saw several attacks, but the peloton was successful in repelling each attempt until a large group of 28 riders eventually rode clear.

From there, the breakaway splintered into two groups with riders like Esteban Chaves, Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott), Sergio Henao, David de la Cruz (Sky), Sam Oomen (Sunweb), Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) and Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo) coming to form a lead group that subsequently built-up an advantage of more than three minutes over the chase.

With 16 kilometers to go, a crash in the peloton claimed riders like Laurens Ten Dam (Sunweb), Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe) and Rafa Valls (Movistar), while the lead group continued to shed its numbers along the final climb of Mount Etna.

With 12 kilometers remaining, Alessandro De Marchi (BMC) attacked from the front group, followed by Ben Hermans (Israel Cycling Academy).

Shortly thereafter, Henao and Chaves attacked from the chase group, quickly bridging their way to the two leaders.

At the six-kilometer mark, Chaves initiated a lone attack, which saw him quickly open up a gap.

Back in the peloton, Dumoulin began upping the pace, causing riders like race leader Rohan Dennis (BMC) and Chris Froome (Sky) to briefly fall behind.

More attacks came with three kilometers to go, with riders like Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) trying their luck.

The sudden surge in pace caused Dennis to fall back once more, while riders like George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Yates, Dumoulin and Froome capitalized on the rhythm.

With under two kilometers to go, Yates attacked from the reduced group, quickly gaining ground on his teammate Chaves. 

From there, the two leaders rode the final 100 meters or so together, with Chaves crossing the line first to seize the stage honors.

Meanwhile, Pinot crossed the finish almost half a minute later to secure the final spot on the podium.

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