Giro d’Italia – Stage 6

Stage 6 Report

by Paul Aubrey

Stage 6 was the first time that we would get a feel for how the GC favorites were climbing. With a profile that was either up or down and the stage was always billed as one where the break away had a good chance to succeed.

Alfredo Balloni of Farnese Vini-Selle Italia who was leading the GPM classification (Gran Premio della Montagna, the ‘blue’ mountains jersey) made his way into the day’s break on the first serious mountain stage with the goal to take an early lead in the contest. The plan didn’t succeed as he failed take full points over the Cat 2 Passo della Cappella. The GPM points went to Androni Giocattoli rider Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez. He also went solo over the top of the nasty Montelupone to continue to accrue points, toward his goal of the mountains jersey. This was potentially inspired by his DS’ sports jacket, which had to be seen to be believed.

Back in the bunch Garmin didn’t think they had any reason to waste energy at the front of the bunch protecting the jersey. Ramunas Navardauskas felt the weight of the pink jersey as he slipped off the back of the race over the climbs. GC contender and teammate Ryder Hesjedal was the rider who was odd’s on favorite to wear pink at the end of the stage.

Moving into the last hour of racing, the success of the breakaway started to look dicey if you judge by the 1min per 10km formula (Chapatte’s Law). However the steep grades of the Montegranaro looked to work in the favor break as the gap extended and it was here that Rubiano made his solo bid for victory, riding away from his 4 companions.

As Rubiano move started to look like a winner, thoughts shifted towards the GC. Could Rubiano take victory with enough of an advantage to move into pink? In the last 15km or so Garmin realized that Hesjedal inheritance was in danger and they sent Vande Velde to the front. The equation was a complex one with time bonuses looking like deciding who would wear the pink jersey. It could be the stage winner, either Golas or Malori from what was left of the break or Hesjedal.

Once the 3 groups crossed the line, 17 seconds was the magnitude of the miscalculation. Malori’s sprint to second place was enough to secure pink and the bunch’s effort was too little too late.

Today’s stage was a great example of why riders go into breakaway, every once in a while you will succeed and come away having achieved a goal. In this case we had 2 winners, Malori with pink and Rubiano with the stage and his GPM jersey.

Cavendish and Eisel lost contact with the peloton in the first hour of racing on a stage which featured 3,000 metres of climbing in scorching hot conditions. As Eisel told cyclingnews:

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“At a certain point we were on the plane back home. I mean, I will never give up, if I’m out of time, I’m out of time. But it was tough. I told Cav twice just to keep thinking about Delilah.

“Yesterday he was on his hands and knees, and then he crashed as well, he was tired. “And I was like ‘that’s it, we’re not going to make it’. There were these long, long roads into a headwind and I was just giving it everything and I was like ‘just keep going.’ Then Jez came back and I was thinking ‘if he’s come back, that’s three of us going to go home.’

“But Cav was recovering really well, he was on the wheel for 20k and then he started dropping me because I was empty. And I just killed myself trying to get through on the last part.” “It was one of those Giro stages you just hate. All those small ramps [climbs], they were real bastards.

“As soon as you lost contact with the bunch, it became a day that was never-ending.”

“We were drilling it. For the last 20k I couldn’t see any more. I don’t know what I had, a heat-stroke. Then I had an asthma attack afterwards and I was lying on the bus for 30 minutes. Even the team doctor asked me if I wanted to go home. It was just one of those miserable days.”

Final 25 Kilometers

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Stage 7 Preview

Stage 7 which will start in the small city of Recanati and finish at a small mountain resort, Rocca di Cambio (“Rock of Change”). It's the first summit finish of the Giro featuring a cat 2, 19 km, 3.9 % climb to Rocca di Cambio. By Giro standards it's a fairly easy climb but the final 700m is the steepest at 10%. Who's your pick? Scarponi? Cunego? Krezugier? Hesjedal?

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