Giro d'Italia: Arnaud Démare wins stage 6
Almeida survives hectic finale as Sagan gets swamped
Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) surged to a dominant victory in an uphill sprint on stage 6 of the Giro d'Italia, dispatching his rivals with seeming ease in Matera and taking the points jersey with it.
The French national champion won by several bike lengths ahead of Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb), while Fabio Felline (Astana) took third just behind. Bora-Hansgrohe's Peter Sagan, wearer of the maglia ciclamino on the stage, ended up in a lowly ninth place.
"This is amazing," Démare said after the finish. "It was an incredibly hard finish. I lost position but I didn’t go crazy, I got back up, followed Astana, stayed on their wheel and then I kept following them. I launched the sprint and can't believe I won it.
"I said if I won the first one, there'd be more. It's good to win early and feel good. We tried and now we've shaken off the pressure. It's magnifique to win like this. I put my arms and I'm super happy to win this way.
"It was risky, and I didn't think there'd be a chance for a sprint and that Bora would control the race. At 200 metres I said I'd go for it and it worked out. Thanks to team who trusted me and led me."
Démare looked to come back from a near-impossible position in the final kilometre, swamped with 500 metres to go before jumping onto a move by Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) and Felline around the final two left-hand bends.
Sagan, meanwhile, was stuck on the inside and held up as Astana took over on the run to the line. His sprint never really got going, in contrast to Démare, who blasted past the Astana lead out on the 2.6 per cent gradient to the line. Matthews' late dash saw him overcome eventual fourth-place finisher Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates) before edging out Felline at the last.
Démare's win sees him in the clear lead of the points classification – he lies on 106 points to Sagan's 67, while Matthews lies third on 55 points. João Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep) retains the race lead, 43 seconds ahead of Bahrain McLaren's Pello Bilbao. The Portuguese youngster didn't enjoy a drama-free day though, being hit by UAE Team Emirates climber Brandon McNulty after stopping to fix his radio with 37km to go.
How it unfolded
Stage 6 of the Giro d'Italia took the peloton 188km from Castrovillari east across the 'instep' of Italy to the ancient city of Matera in Basilicata. It was the first time since 2014 that the southern region hosted a stage finish, though the day would be less taxing than that stage, won by Diego Ulissi in Viggiano.
The early kilometres of the stage would take in several uncategorised climbs before a long, slightly downhill run to the finale with the category 3 ascent to Millotta (4.7km at 6.8 per cent) coming with 25.7km to go.
The final kilometres of the stage would pose a tricky challenge for some sprinters, with the final 10 kilometres rising up and a finishing straight angling slightly uphill at 2.6 per cent. A possible launchpad for the puncheurs lay 2km from the line – a 750 metre rise at 6.3 per cent.
A flurry of attacks went from the start of the stage, with a four-man group prevailing before 10km had been raced. Vini Zabù-Brado-KTM's Marco Frapporti made the break for the second time in three days, with the Lombard joined by fellow northerners, Mattia Bais (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) of Trentino and Filippo Zana (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè) of Vicenza. EF Pro Cycling's Australian James Whelan completed the move.
The quartet gained a maximum advantage of nine minutes in the early afternoon as Deceuninck-QuickStep, working for race leader Almeida, and Bora-Hansgrohe, riding for points leader Peter Sagan, did the bulk of pacemaking at the front of the peloton.
There was little drama through the mid-part of the stage, save for Whelan and Frapporti suffering mechanicals before making it back to the break and CCC Team's Ilnur Zakarin involved in a minor crash in the peloton.
At the first sprint of the day, both Sagan and stage 4 winner Démare went for the four points available behind the break. Sagan only ended up with two, though, losing out to the Frenchman as well as his own teammate Maciej Bodnar after a mix-up in the run for the line.
Team Sunweb joined in the work at the front, helping to bring the gap down to a more manageable six minutes with 80km to race. Over the next 10 kilometres, the peloton's high pace had swept another 1:45 away, with the sprinters teams clearly signalling their intent for the final.
With 37km to go, and with the break under two minutes away, race leader Almeida was involved in a crash. He and teammate Iljo Keisse pulled to the side of the road to fix a problem with his radio, but an unsighted McNulty hit Almeida from behind. Both riders were fine, though, quickly making it back to the peloton.
Up front, Frapporti decided to attack the break 32km from the line, not long after having remonstrated with Whelan about the amount of work that was being done. He was caught at the base of the climb to Millotta, though – the only real prize left on the stage for the quartet.
Whelan jumped away midway up the climb, taking 50 seconds by the top as his breakmates were caught by the peloton. At the back, sprinters Elia Viviani (Cofidis) and Álvaro Hodeg (Deceuninck-QuickStep) lost contact with the peloton.
Work from Bora-Hansgrohe and Jumbo-Visma ended Whelan's adventure with just under 14km to go. Paweł Poljański stuck to the front in service of Sagan afterwards, keeping the pace high until the 7.5km to go mark. A host of teams – including the Sunweb and Groupama-FDJ trains – took over at the front, working for their sprinters as well as keeping GC riders safe on the run to the 3km banner.
There were surprisingly no real attempts to get away on the small hill at two kilometres, and Bora-Hansgrohe took to the front once again over the top with Matteo Fabbro. His work ended just inside the final kilometre, at which point Trek-Segafredo's Vincenzo Nibali mounted a surprise but short-lived attack.
Bora-Hansgrohe's Rafał Majka took over heading into the final 600 metres, with Sagan in third wheel and Démare some way back but moving up. The final two bends proved decisive for positioning in the dash for the line, with the Frenchman following Felline and carrying momentum around the outside, as Sagan was held up by a concertina effect on the inside.
Fuglsang's lead out was a launchpad for Felline to go, while Andrea Vendrame in second wheel didn't have enough kick to challenge. Démare launched down the left and easily outsprinted Felline to the line. Molano's sprint didn't quite get going either, with Matthews' decision to take his wheel proving the wrong one with Démare already bike lengths ahead before the Australian jumped for second place.
Pos. | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | 4:54:38 |
2 | Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb | |
3 | Fabio Felline (Ita) Astana Pro Team | |
4 | Juan Sebastian Molano Benavides (Col) UAE Team Emirates | |
5 | Davide Cimolai (Ita) Israel Start-Up Nation | |
6 | Andrea Vendrame (Ita) AG2R la Mondiale | |
7 | Mikkel Frølich Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep | |
8 | Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
9 | Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bahrain McLaren | |
10 | Jhonatan Manuel Narvaez Prado (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers | |
11 | Davide Ballerini (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep | |
12 | Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo | |
13 | Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Pro Cycling | |
14 | Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team | |
15 | Filippo Fiorelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' | |
16 | Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates | |
17 | Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
18 | Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb | |
19 | Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
20 | Simone Consonni (Ita) Cofidis | |
21 | Ruben Guerreiro (Por) EF Pro Cycling | |
22 | Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | |
23 | Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain McLaren | |
24 | Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb | |
25 | Joao Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-Quickstep | |
26 | Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo | |
27 | Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling | |
28 | Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb | |
29 | Attila Valter (Hun) CCC Team | |
30 | Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep | |
31 | Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
32 | Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma | |
33 | Sergio Samitier Samitier (Spa) Movistar Team | |
34 | Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott | |
35 | Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates | |
36 | James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-Quickstep | |
37 | Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) CCC Team | |
38 | Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma | |
39 | Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain McLaren | |
40 | Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale | |
41 | Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Team Sunweb | |
42 | Chris Harper (Aus) Team Jumbo-Visma | |
43 | Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers | |
44 | Francesco Romano (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' | |
45 | Joe Dombrowski (USA) UAE Team Emirates | |
46 | Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers | |
47 | Ben Swift (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers | |
48 | Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale | |
49 | Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis | |
50 | Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
51 | Alessandro Bisolti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec | |
52 | Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Trek-Segafredo | |
53 | Lawrence Warbasse (USA) AG2R la Mondiale | |
54 | Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain McLaren | |
55 | Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal | |
56 | Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | |
57 | Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) Groupama-FDJ | |
58 | Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | |
59 | Jaakko Hanninen (Fin) AG2R la Mondiale | |
60 | Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R la Mondiale | 0:00:20 |
61 | Josip Rumac (Cro) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec | |
62 | Stefano Oldani (Ita) Lotto Soudal | |
63 | Sean Bennett (USA) EF Pro Cycling | 0:00:23 |
64 | Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) CCC Team | |
65 | Jonathan Caicedo (Ecu) EF Pro Cycling | 0:00:25 |
66 | Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo | |
67 | Amanuel Gebreigzabhier (Eri) NTT Pro Cycling | 0:00:34 |
68 | Davide Villella (Ita) Movistar Team | 0:00:37 |
69 | Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team | |
70 | Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Vini Zabu' KTM | 0:00:42 |
71 | Kamil Malecki (Pol) CCC Team | |
72 | Einer Augusto Rubio Reyes (Col) Movistar Team | 0:00:44 |
73 | Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Vini Zabu' KTM | 0:00:46 |
74 | François Bidard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale | |
75 | Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Israel Start-Up Nation | 0:01:07 |
76 | Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | 0:01:21 |
77 | Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team | |
78 | Danilo Wyss (Swi) NTT Pro Cycling | |
79 | Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 0:01:32 |
80 | Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain McLaren | |
81 | Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ | |
82 | Pieter Serry (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep | |
83 | Victor De la Parte (Spa) CCC Team | |
84 | Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | |
85 | Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' | 0:01:46 |
86 | Giovanni Carboni (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' | |
87 | Antonio Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo | |
88 | Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
89 | Etienne Van Empel (Ned) Vini Zabu' KTM | |
90 | Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis | 0:01:57 |
91 | Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo | |
92 | Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo | |
93 | Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis | |
94 | Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
95 | Jefferson Alexander Cepeda (Ecu) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec | 0:02:12 |
96 | Victor Campenaerts (Bel) NTT Pro Cycling | |
97 | Simon Pellaud (Swi) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec | 0:02:16 |
98 | Oscar Rodriguez Garaicoechea (Spa) Astana Pro Team | 0:02:23 |
99 | Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Groupama-FDJ | 0:02:24 |
100 | Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ | |
101 | Jos Van Emden (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma | |
102 | Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma | |
103 | Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain McLaren | 0:02:27 |
104 | Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team | |
105 | Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team | 0:02:33 |
106 | Eros Capecchi (Ita) Bahrain McLaren | 0:02:35 |
107 | Fernando Gaviria Rendon (Col) UAE Team Emirates | |
108 | Dario Cataldo (Ita) Movistar Team | |
109 | Josef Cerny (Cze) CCC Team | |
110 | Matteo Sobrero (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling | |
111 | Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (Den) Astana Pro Team | 0:02:42 |
112 | Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb | |
113 | Rohan Dennis (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers | 0:02:46 |
114 | Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers | |
115 | Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale | |
116 | Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates | |
117 | Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma | |
118 | Tobias Foss (Nor) Team Jumbo-Visma | |
119 | Jack Haig (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | |
120 | Rodrigo Contreras Pinzon (Col) Astana Pro Team | |
121 | Ben O'Connor (Aus) NTT Pro Cycling | |
122 | Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis | |
123 | Simone Ravanelli (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec | 0:03:30 |
124 | Nathan Haas (Aus) Cofidis | |
125 | Rick Zabel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation | |
126 | Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma | |
127 | Luca Chirico (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec | |
128 | Edoardo Affini (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott | |
129 | Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe | 0:03:32 |
130 | Alexander Cataford (Can) Israel Start-Up Nation | 0:03:41 |
131 | Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal | 0:03:52 |
132 | Nico Denz (Ger) Team Sunweb | 0:04:00 |
133 | Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb | |
134 | Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC Team | |
135 | Maximiliano Ariel Richeze (Arg) UAE Team Emirates | 0:04:07 |
136 | Dylan Sunderland (Aus) NTT Pro Cycling | 0:04:19 |
137 | Fabio Mazzucco (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' | 0:04:26 |
138 | Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Pro Cycling | 0:04:31 |
139 | Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers | 0:04:47 |
140 | Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:05:02 |
141 | Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Pro Cycling | 0:05:03 |
142 | Mikkel Bjerg (Den) UAE Team Emirates | |
143 | Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' | |
144 | Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel Start-Up Nation | 0:05:05 |
145 | Matthew Holmes (GBr) Lotto Soudal | |
146 | Louis Meintjes (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling | |
147 | Albert Torres Barcelo (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:07:11 |
148 | James Whelan (Aus) EF Pro Cycling | 0:07:28 |
149 | Mattia Bais (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec | 0:10:32 |
150 | Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Groupama-FDJ | 0:11:37 |
151 | Marco Mathis (Ger) Cofidis | |
152 | Jhonatan Restrepo Valencia (Col) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec | |
153 | Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Pro Cycling | |
154 | Iljo Keisse (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep | |
155 | Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain McLaren | |
156 | Matteo Spreafico (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec | |
157 | Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
158 | Marco Frapporti (Ita) Vini Zabu' KTM | |
159 | Lorenzo Rota (Ita) Vini Zabu' KTM | |
160 | Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis | |
161 | Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Start-Up Nation | |
162 | Filippo Zana (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' | |
163 | Alvaro Jose Hodeg Chagui (Col) Deceuninck-Quickstep | |
164 | Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation | |
165 | Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Lotto Soudal | |
166 | Simone Bevilacqua (Ita) Vini Zabu' KTM | |
167 | Patrick Gamper (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
168 | Matthias Brändle (Aut) Israel Start-Up Nation | |
DNS | Brent Bookwalter (USA) Mitchelton-Scott |
Pos. | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Mattia Bais (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec | 12 |
2 | Marco Frapporti (Ita) Vini Zabu' KTM | 8 |
3 | Filippo Zana (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' | 6 |
4 | James Whelan (Aus) EF Pro Cycling | 5 |
5 | Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | 4 |
6 | Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe | 3 |
7 | Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe | 2 |
8 | Patrick Gamper (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe | 1 |
Pos. | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | 50 |
2 | Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb | 35 |
3 | Fabio Felline (Ita) Astana Pro Team | 25 |
4 | Juan Sebastian Molano Benavides (Col) UAE Team Emirates | 18 |
5 | Davide Cimolai (Ita) Israel Start-Up Nation | 14 |
6 | Andrea Vendrame (Ita) AG2R la Mondiale | 12 |
7 | Mikkel Frølich Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep | 10 |
8 | Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe | 8 |
9 | Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bahrain McLaren | 7 |
10 | Jhonatan Manuel Narvaez Prado (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers | 6 |
11 | Davide Ballerini (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep | 5 |
12 | Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo | 4 |
13 | Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Pro Cycling | 3 |
14 | Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team | 2 |
15 | Filippo Fiorelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' | 1 |
Pos. | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Marco Frapporti (Ita) Vini Zabu' KTM | 0:00:03 |
2 | Mattia Bais (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec | 0:00:02 |
3 | Filippo Zana (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' | 0:00:01 |
Pos. | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | James Whelan (Aus) EF Pro Cycling | 9 |
2 | Marco Frapporti (Ita) Vini Zabu' KTM | 4 |
3 | Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 2 |
4 | Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling | 1 |
Pos. | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Mikkel Frølich Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep | 4:54:38 |
2 | Jhonatan Manuel Narvaez Prado (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers | |
3 | Team Sunweb | |
4 | Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | |
5 | Team Sunweb | |
6 | Joao Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-Quickstep | |
7 | Attila Valter (Hun) CCC Team | |
8 | Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
9 | Sergio Samitier Samitier (Spa) Movistar Team | |
10 | Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates | |
11 | James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-Quickstep | |
12 | Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale | |
13 | Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers | |
14 | Francesco Romano (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' | |
15 | Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
16 | Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | |
17 | Jaakko Hanninen (Fin) AG2R la Mondiale | |
18 | Stefano Oldani (Ita) Lotto Soudal | 0:00:20 |
19 | Sean Bennett (USA) EF Pro Cycling | 0:00:23 |
20 | Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo | 0:00:25 |
21 | Kamil Malecki (Pol) CCC Team | 0:00:42 |
22 | Einer Augusto Rubio Reyes (Col) Movistar Team | 0:00:44 |
23 | Giovanni Carboni (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' | 0:01:46 |
24 | Jefferson Alexander Cepeda (Ecu) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec | 0:02:12 |
25 | Oscar Rodriguez Garaicoechea (Spa) Astana Pro Team | 0:02:23 |