Rodriguez attacks to take penultimate stage victory

Image 1 of 43

Spain's Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) won stage six of the 2012 Tirrano-Adriatico after staging a daring breakaway with 1km to go and holding off a chasing pack headed by local favourites Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Danilo Di Luca (Acqua & Sapone). Chris Horner (RadioShack-Nissan) retains the overall lead in the GC with the final stage, a 9.3km individual time trial at San Benedetto del Tronto on Tuesday afternoon, still remaining.

Rodriguez used his skill and experience as a climber to secure the win on the 181km stage that featured several climbs right up until the dramatic hilltop finish. The 32-year-old from Barcelona isn’t a stranger to success here, having secured stage wins in both 2008 and 2009, but was glad to get his first World Tour win of the season close to Italy’s Adriatic coast.

"I'm very happy with today's victory," Rodriguez said. "In the last two stages I was a little disappointed: they were good courses for me but I couldn't win, also because my rivals were in a better shape. Instead, today in theory it was a better stage for Oscar Freire, more suitable to his characteristics, but when I saw he was not ahead I tried to win.

"My only chance was to anticipate the sprint and attack from far out, because in the bunch there was Peter Sagan and I couldn't compete with him in a sprint. It was an important victory: now I'm more persuaded that the work we did between Tour of Oman and Tirreno-Adriatico was good. I proved I'm getting better and better and for Vuelta al Pais Vasco I'll be ready to take some other good results."

The minutes leading up the start were dominated by several high profile withdrawals, notably those of Philippe Gilbert (BMC), Edvald Boasson Hagen and Matthew Goss (GreenEdge). All three cited illness and they were joined on the sidelines less than halfway through the stage by Mark Cavendish (Team Sky), who pulled out to focus on his preparations for the upcoming Milan-San Remo.

The stage itself covered an initial loop of 84km before six undulating laps of just over 16km each. Each lap featured the gruelling 2.5km Ponte delle Pietre climb at its conclusion, which provided a stern test for the top quality field that has assembled here. With just a time trial remaining after the completion of the stage, the riders were well aware of the importance attached to this afternoon’s action.

Peloton stays in touch

After 67km of racing a breakaway group had built up a lead of four minutes. Carlos Alberto Betancur Gomez (Acqua & Sapone), Luis Felipe Laverde (Colombia - Coldeportes), Arthur Vichot (FDJ-Big Mat), Andrei Amador (Movistar), Branislau Samoilau (Movistar), Serge Pauwels (Omega-Pharma QuickStep) and Mirko Selvaggi (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) worked to extend the gap but never managed a decisive advantage.

Katusha, Liquigas-Cannondale, Garmin and Omega-Pharma QuickStep all took turns in pulling the peloton closer to the leaders, and with 20km to go the gap was down to under a minute and the leading group had been reduced to four riders – Vichot, Pauwels, Betancur and Andrei Amadur (Movistar) – and by this stage it was becoming clear that the chasing pack would catch them.

With just 5.2km left to go in the race they did just that and the race was set for a dramatic finish up the final climb at the end of an energy-sapping afternoon on the road.

After Di Luca and Michele Scarponi briefly thrilled the home spectators by attacking, Christophe Riblon (AG2R-La Mondiale) put in a promising bid and was joined by Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago-CSF Inox), but with Liquigas fuelled by Peter Sagan, the pair were not allowed any purchase.

The move served to set up Rodriguez perfectly with 1km to go, and when he lept off the front with bold burst of speed, he built an advantage of several metres. This time Sagan's selfless teamwork was unsuccessful in catching the escapee, but he closed the gap enough to give Nibali a launchpad to sprint for the second place bonus seconds.

Nibali remains in third overall, but narrowed the gap between himself and Horner at the top of the GC to just six seconds. With Astana’s Roman Kreuziger sandwiched in between them, tomorrow’s final battle promises to be an intriguing one.

"Today's second place makes me almost as happy as a victory," Nibali said. "I gained six important seconds for the general classification, and that makes me even more confident for the time trial tomorrow. It's clear numerical advantage and above all a psychological one. Horner is the leader but I think the man to beat is Kreuziger."

Full Results