Giro d'Italia: Wellens wins on summit finish to Roccaraso

Image 1 of 75

Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) claimed the first Grand Tour stage of his career on stage 6 of the Giro d'Italia, a day when the race's first summit finish drew the overall favourites into direct battle and Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) belied his own insistence that he's not interested in the general classification.

Wellens took advantage of a moment of calm after a brief storm in the bunch to get himself up to the breakaway halfway through the 157km journey from Ponte to Roccaraso, where such names as Fausto Coppi, Bernard Hinault, and Moreno Argentin have celebrated in the past. 

The Belgian made his move on the early slopes of the 17km final climb, countering an attack from Laurent Didier (Trek-Segafredo) – who was also part of the bridge to the break – before tucking his arms over his handelbars as if the long second-category ascent were a time trial.

"I wanted to go from the beginning but I didn't succeed. Then they [the break] didn't go very fast, and we could come back with Pim Ligthart, who had the idea to jump to the front," said Wellens, who also revealed race leader Dumoulin had encouraged him to attack, content to let the break contest stage honours.

"Tom said 'Tim, it's a moment to jump – we won't ride'. Then we bridged, we rode very well and I was the strongest on the final climb, so I'm very happy. I had a lot of pressure, because I said before the Giro that my objective was to win a stage, and I'm happy I did it."

The 24-year-old was over a minute clear by the time he crossed the line and lifted his bike above his head, by which point shots were being fired among the overall contenders. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) came home second and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) third, but it was Dumoulin, a couple of seconds behind in fourth, who could be most pleased with his day's work.

The Dutchman has always insisted he's only here for the time trials, but that didn't tally with the aggression shown as he countered an attack from Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), before opening up a sizeable gap to extend his overall lead by several seconds over most of the race favourites. Only Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Zakarin could react to the move, and they soon caught early attackers Jakob Fulgsang (Astana) and Kanstantin Siutsou (Dimension Data) before going for the line. 

Fuglsang collected six bonus seconds and moved up to second on GC, but it was scant consolation for a disappointing day for the Astana team and its leader. The light blue jerseys had set a fearsome pace on the climb, and Fuglsang's early attack forced the other teams onto the front foot before Nibali's follow-up 3km from the finish. The 2013 champion, however, lacked conviction and, as he eased up in anticipation of being caught, Dumoulin sprung his surprise.

Nibali couldn't react, nor could he stay with the likes of Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge), Rafal Majka (Tinkoff), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale) and Steven Kruiswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) as the fragmented main group sprinted for the line several seconds behind that front group. Mikel Landa (Team Sky), who seemed to struggle on stage 4, finished with Nibali and so too lost a small chunk of time. 

In the end, Nibali and Landa lost 23 seconds to Dumoulin, who now leads the race by 26 seconds from Fuglsang, with Zakarin third a couple of seconds back. Though he dropped from second to fourth, Bob Jungels (Etixx-QuickStep) put in another impressive display to keep himself in the white jersey and in contention overall.

More on this story:
Giro d'Italia stage 6: Finish line quotes
Giro d'Italia stage 6 highlights – Video

Giro d'Italia Stage 6 Highlights Video

To subscribe to the Cyclingnews video channel, please click here.

How it happened

The riders emerged from their team buses this morning to heavy rain in Ponte, and full wet weather gear was the choice for the majority.

Despite the miserable conditions, there was no shortage of candidates putting themselves forward to spend the day out front in the break, and it was a frantic start to the day before an escape was allowed to settle. When it did, it contained three riders – Alessandro Bisolti (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Eugert Zhupa (Wilier Trestina-Southeast) and Alexandr Kolobnev (Gazprom-Rusvelo) – and their lead quickly rocketed as the peloton eased up.

Kolobnev, the 38-year-old former Katusha rider took maximum points at the first intermediate sprint as the road started to pitch uphill, in anticipation of the first major test of the day – the second-category Bocca di Selva climb.

The lead maxed out at seven minutes on the climb, and Bisolti led them over it, with his teammate and mountains classification leader Damiano Cunego picking up the remaining KOM points from the bunch to all-but ensure he'd stay in blue tomorrow.

Dumoulin's Giant-Alpecin teammates controlled the pace in the bunch on the climb and, though there was no real action on the way up, the race sprang into life on the technical descent, where the rain was falling. The gap to the breakaway absolutely plummeted, down to just over one minute, while gaps appeared in the bunch, with Ryder Hesjedal briefly caught behind.

Things started to calm down once back on the flat but the break broke up, with Kolobnev drifting back to the bunch to leave Zhupa and Bisolti – who was briefly dropped – to plough on alone. Three riders then took advantage of the calm in the bunch to skip away in pursuit of the leaders. They were Lotto Soudal's Pim Ligthart and Tim Wellens, along with Laurent Didier (Trek Segafredo), and after 10km they made the catch, by which time the lead stood at five minutes.

The teams in the bunch then faced a decision – chase down the break ahead of the final climb, or allow them to contest the stage honours? Lampre-Merida looked keen on chasing and hit the front en masse in a clear indication that Diego Ulissi fancied a second stage win, but they didn't stay there for long and, with none of the breakaway riders a threat on GC, Giant were more than happy not to chase.

The leading quintet could start to get excited, but Orica-GreenEdge started to apply some pressure, and Lampre then came back, meaning that the leaders reached Castel di Sangro, the start point of the final climb, with a lead of 6:30 – things hanging in the balance.

The final climb

Just over a kilometre in, Ligthart, who had towed Wellens for many kilometres pulled off – his work done. The first attack soon came from Didier and, having left it to the others to reel him in, the canny Wellens made his move. He soon opened up a considerable lead as he tucked his arms over his handlebars, riding as if it were a time trial, Didier fading into the distance.

Back in the bunch, it was Astana who resurrected memories of last year's race by setting a fearsome pace which saw many, including Cunego, shelled out of the back. They played their first tactical card through Jakob Fuglsang, who, at just 35 seconds off the race lead, attacked and forced Giant-Alpecin into action. Kanstantin Siutsou (Dimension Data) was next to skip away and he soon joined up with Fuglsang, the pair with 30-40 seconds for a number of kilometres.

Movistar then took it up, with GC men positioning themselves and just biding their time as they looked at each other to see who'd make the first real move, while the remnants of the break were finally swallowed up.

Wellens' lead was diminishing with every pedal stroke but he had given himself a big enough buffer to make it clear that victory was his going into the final few kilometres.

As expected, the first big move came from Nibali with around 3.5km to go. The Italian, however, was soon brought back by Team Sky and, as he eased slightly, Dumoulin took full advantage to spring a surprise with a big attack.

Pozzovivo was first to react and soon there was a trio with Zakarin. They soon caught Fuglsang and Siutsou and, with a clear margin over the main group behind, thoughts turned to the bonus seconds. Fuglsang grabbed the six seconds for second place, while Zakarin bagged the remaining four, with Dumoulin coming across just a couple of seconds down but with his overall lead bolstered.

Chaves was five seconds back, Uran and Majka nine seconds, Valverde and Kruiswijk 12 seconds, and Jungels 17, just ahead of Nibali and Landa. Small gaps, maybe, but a significant scrap in terms of the overall complexion, with the man who says he's only here for the time trials dealing the biggest blow.

Full Results