Gino Mäder (Bahrain Victorious) claimed victory in the rain atop the Colle San Giacomo, a redemptive win on stage 6 after the loss of his team leader and GC hope Mikel Landa, who crashed out of the Giro d’Italia the day before.
Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) launched a series of attacks in the final two kilometres to finish second, and taking six valuable bonus points, with Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) following for third on the stage. Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep) followed Martin in fourth place and moved into second on GC, with bonus seconds helping Bernal move into third overall.
The Giro d'Italia's current Best Young Rider in the white jersey, Attila Valter (Groupama-FDJ), finished 12th on the stage and vaulted into the overall lead and claiming the first pink jersey for a Hungarian rider. The 22-year-old, who started the soggy day from Frasassi Caves to the summit of San Giacomo fourth overall, now leads Evenepoel by 11 seconds and Bernal by 16.
Race leader Alessandro De Marchi (Israel Start-Up Nation), who had worn the maglia rosa for two stages, was dropped when Ineos Grenadiers attacked en masse and split what was remaining of the peloton mid-stage. By the time his group reached the base of the final 15.5km climb to the finish, De Marchi had conceded nine minutes.
It was a long 160 kilometres with 3,400 metres of climbing, made all the more challenging with wind and rain. Mäder made the stage quite memorable with his win, which he began as being part of a small breakaway group that only included Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) and Dario Cataldo (Movistar) by the time they were on the final climb.
He launched his attack 3.3km from the summit and opened a one-minute gap quickly. He was able to hold off a charging Bernal with his companions, which reminded him of a similar fate earlier in the year at Paris-Nice when his attempt at a stage win was taken away by swift Primož Roglič in the closing metres of the penultimate stage.
"Yesterday was such a sad day, and today we just said we're going to ride in honour of Mikel's lost Giro," Mäder said.
"As soon as I was alone as the last survivor of the break, all I could think of was Paris-Nice. There was that doubt in my head all the way to the last 100 metres, and then it was such a sweet feeling."
Check above for the video highlights of the stage.
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