As it happened: Tirreno-Adriatico stage 6

Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage 6 of Tirreno-Adriatico!

Yesterday was the day Jonas Vingegaard took control of Tirreno-Adriatico. The Dane attacked a full 29km from the finish, and soloed to victory by over one minute, catapulting himself to the top of the GC with an advantage of 54 seconds over Juan Ayuso and more than a minute over everyone else. 

He has been hot favourite since before the race began, and, following a slightly underwhelming time trial earlier in the week, he fully lived up to those expectations on stage five.

Today, he and his Visma | Lease a Bike will be tasked with defending the overall lead on a mountain top finish. In fact, stage six looks even more like a GC stage than yesterday’s, with the long (10.2km) and steep ( 7.9% average) Monte Petrano being one of the most difficult mountains we’ve seen so far in any race this season. It looks perfect for Vingegaard, and an opportunity to potentially extend his lead and take another stage win

This might be just one of several stage races Vingegaard is riding before the Tour de France title defence his season is once again built around, but the way he pushed himself by attacking on the climb so far from the finish, and then not holding back on the following descent, showed he meant business. He explained that his and the team’s plan was always to attack on that stage, and that the plan was executed perfectly.

Behind Vingegaard, a clear GC hierarchy formed yesterday, with the same riders who finished in the top seven now occupying the top 7 spots on GC. Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) looked the strongest of those, forming a two-man chase group ahead of the rest for a while before being brought back by the rest of the chasers, and will therefore be looked up as the men most likely to try and disrupt Vingegaard. As will the UAE Team Emirates pair of Juan Ayuso and Isaac del Toro, the only teammates who were together in the seven-man chase, and, now at 0-54 and 1-34 respectively on GC, have the advantage of being able to work together.

Thymen Arensman (Ineos) and Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma | Lease a Bike) were the other men in that group, though we can expect Uijtdebroeks to be on marking duty for Vingegaard, as his teammate.

The riders are due to set off in just a few minutes. It’s an uphill start, on an uncategorized climb, so a chance for climbers who are out of GC convention to form an early breakaway.

180KM TO GO

And they're off!

There are six non-starters to report: Damien Howson, Fausto Masnada, Filippo Fiorelli, Campbell Stewart, Matteo Fabbro and, most notably of all, Romain Bardet. Bardet crashed yesterday and finished over 20 minutes down, and also suffered a concussion - though considered himself not to be worse off, given the speed they were going at at the time.

Lots of riders are trying to get clear on this uncategorized rise, without success so far Among them are Richard Carapaz and Damiano Caruso, two world class climbers who now hope to have some leeway shaving lost 3-27 yesterday.

170KM TO GO

Julian Alaphilippe and Kevin Vermaerke are now out front by a few seconds. They’re unlike to be considered as dangerous as Caruso and Carapaz, so could be given more of a chance to go clear decisively.

Neither rider were quite so lucky, and have been brought back. Now Ben Healy is trying his luck.

That initial uncategorised climb wasn’t able to produce a break, but the upcoming -terrain remains undulating for a little while before a  long flat run-in to the first proper climb of the day.

Healy's lead is being reported as a slender 8 seconds.

Here are the riders in the leaders' jerseys at the start today, including a first glimpse of Jonas Vingegaard in blue.

160KM TO GO

Healy's still out there on his own, but isn't being allowed much of a lead. Is staying around 15 - 20 seconds for now.

Damiano Caruso hasn't given up yet - he's back on the attack, in pursuit of Healy.

150KM TO GO

Caruso's attempt was unsuccessful, but another earlier attack, Alaphilippe, jumped away with Nans Peters, and the pair managed to bridge up to Healy, forming a leading trio. Their lead remains only a handful of seconds, however.

This has been a breathless start to the stage, and multiple riders have been dropped from the peloton. The terrain has eased off though, and the riders will enjoy flat roads before the start of the long climb of La Forchetta, about 25km away.

The peloton is indeed getting back together, with dropped riders returning. Among those is leader of the points classification Jonathan Milan, who had the added complication of a mechanical earlier today.

An interesting group has formed behind the leading trio, including, once again, Richard Carapaz.

Those chasers have now joined the leading trio, meaning we have a new leading group consisting of: Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X), Axel Zingle (Cofidis), Iván García Cortina (Movistar), Nikias Arndt (Bahrain-Victorious), plus the original three of Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) and Nans Peters (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale).

140KM TO GO

This is looking though it might be the break of the day, too. The peloton is now over a minute adrift. 

It definitely seems as though the peloton has sat up. The gap’s already grown to over two minutes now.

In between them, one rider was not quite able to join the leaders and now finds himself in no-man’s land - Samuele Zoccarato. He’s in the unfortunate position of being caught over a minute behind the leaders, and over a minute ahead of the peloton.

Here's Milan dealing with his mechanical earlier. He'll want to save as much energy as possible today, to be fresh as possible for a potential shot at a stage win on tomorrow's final stage.

That's the first hour of racing done, in which a hefty 44.1km were completed. Things have calmed down now though, with the break having formed.

130KM TO GO

Zoccarato has, inevitably, given up the ghost, and is back in the peloton. That leaves us with our nine leaders, and the peloton about 2-30 behind.

EF Education-EasyPost clearly mean business today. Not only did their rider Ben Healy initiate the day’s break, he’s been joined by their star climber Richard Carapaz. At 4-21 behind Vingegaard, he’s the highest placed rider on GC in the break, and is too good a rider to be allowed back into GC contention, and could therefore make the break’s chances of survival difficult. But if they can stay clear, he’ll likely be the man to beat.

120KM TO GO

The breakaway riders are now on the first official climb of the day, La Forchetta. They will be climbing for 7.2km in total, and, though it's average is only 4.5%, it ramps up towards the end to nearer 8%. It's probably too far from the finish to see riders dropped, however. 

Carapaz might be the most acclaimed climber in the break (pictured here), but there’s plenty of talent here that could challenge him for the stage win. Julian Alaphilippe is the other box office name, and, though he’s had a difficult start to the seasons with abandons at both Het Nieuwsblad and Strade Bianche, he did manage to register a top ten here on Thursday. Pushing for a win today would be a promising sign that his form is, at long last, back on the way up.

The peloton no longer appears happy to let this break gain much of a lead. The gap has tumbled as they climb La Forchetta, and is back down to a mere 30 seconds or so.

110KM TO GO

The break has made it to the top, however, and are still out there. Healy was first to the summit and took maximum points, ahead of teammate Carapaz, then Leknessund, then Peters. 

That puts Healy and Carapaz up to fourth and third respectively in the KOM classification, which Vingegaard leads. Vingegaard has bigger fish to fry what with his GC push, but if the break is indeed brought back and he wins again on today’s mountain top finish, the classification would probably still be his by default.

GC leaders Visma | Lease a Bike is the team leading the chase. They must be concerned by Carapaz's presence in the break.

100KM TO GO

The chase has cooled since the top of the climb, however, and is back up to over one minunte. We're now on a long, slightly downhill stretch, although there are some undulations to come.

A reminder that the penultimate stage of Paris-Nice is also taking place as we speak - you can follow all of that action here.

90KM TO GO

The pace is clearly off in the peloton, and the gap has grown back to about two minutes. There’s hope yet for the breakaway, as we enter the second half of the stage.

If the break can survive, Andreas Leknessund and Michał Kwiatkowski are both riders who could challenge Carapaz for the stage win. Kwiatkowski has great pedigree in this race, having won the GC here in 2018, while Leknessund is an ever-improving climber who made the top ten of the Giro last year. Both haven’t been in their best form lately, but have the potential to win if they find their legs.

The TV coverage has shown some worrying footage from earlier in the day, in which Max Poole abandoned the race in a stretcher. He was conscious, but did look badly hurt.

70KM TO GO

The gap’s holding steady for now, at about 2-20. Visma | Lease a Bike are still leading the peloton, and don’t look at all worried.

The riders are approaching another uncatergorised climb. This one could easily have been classified as an official climb, and it'll be interesting to see if Visma | Lease a Bike do what they did on the last climb and up the pace again.

Some action in the break now as Healy attacks the rest of them.

It's only a tentative effort, however, and he's been brought back.

Dylan van Baarle is the man setting the pace for Visma on the uncategorised climb. It's a steady and difficult pace, and is indeed reducing the gap to the break, which is now down to 1-50.

Vingegaard is looking perfectly calm and untroubled.. He's just waved to a TV moto camera that's riding alongside him in the peloton, where he's about 6th in line in the peloton, behind all of his Visma teammates.

Healy's pressing on in the break again, and has gone clear with four other riders, including his teammate Carapaz.

60KM TO GO

The gap's tumbling down again - it's now at just 1-18.

Alaphilippe, Arndt, García and Peters had to labour to join the four riders who went clear with Healy, but have joined them now.

Carapaz is by his EF team car picking up a bidon. It was clear that he and Healy were trying to up the pace in this group on that previous climb, and drop a few of the weaker riders, but failed to do both. With a lead now of just 1-30, it's looking unikely to be their day.

Worse news for EF Education-EastPost - it's been announced that Neilson Powless. He might not have been anywhere near on GC, but that's not ideal for a rider hoping to be in contention for the spring classics, starting with Milan-Sanremo this time next week.

50M TO GO

Only a few kilometres to go until the riders start climbing the next hill, Pian di Trebbio. There's an intermediate sprint at the top, which the break should contest among themselves, with a lead still of 1-40 over the peloton. 

More teams are competing now with Visma | Lease a Bike for control at the front of the peloton, as the climb approaches.

The breakaway has started climbing, and Alaphilippe is the first victim, being dropped out of the back. He's clearly still some way from his best form, unfortunately. 

Healy is off again! He's upped the pace and the others are struggling to stay with him.

Arndt has been dropped, leaving just six riders left with Healy. 

Alaphilippe's dropped back into the peloton already, and doesn't look happy. He shakes his head and gestures something with his hand as he's swallowed up - maybe he's annoyed that the peloton didn't give the break much of a gap?

Zingle now the latest to be dropped from the break. It's still Healy doing the damage.

Kruijswijk is leading the peloton for Visma on the climb, and the team are still controlling things. The gap to the 6 leaders is 1-30.

Healy's pace is one by one breaking the break up. Kwiatkowski is dropped, followed by Peters. That leaves just Carapaz, Leknessund and Garcia with Healy. 

40KM TO GO

As well as thinning the group out, Healy's pace is having the effect of keeping the peloton at bay, with the gap now at 1-45. It' a great ride by the Irishman, but they really could have done with a bigger gap over the peloton initially. 

Healy's led them over the climb, and thus he claims the three bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint. There will be no need for the GC riders in the peloton to worry about fighting for them.

Despite having spent to much time leading the group, Healy is now struggling to stay with the remaining three riders on the descent. He's several bikelengths adrfit.

Now they've reached a less technical section of the descent, Healy's back on, and back in front again setting the pace. 

Kwiatkowski and Peters are the latest to be absorbed by the peloton, who are 1-45 behind the leading quartet now.

30KM TO GO

Change in the peloton now, as Ineos Grenadiers take over from Visma | Lease a Bike. They obviously have a lot of faith in Thymen Arensman, who is fourth on GC after making the selection yesterday.

The break are done descending and are going back uphill again for the short but steep Moria hill. It's only 2.4km, but the average gradient of 8.6% could cause some damage. 

Healy is still laying down the power, and their lead over the peloton is two minutes. If the Irishman can grow that lead some more on this climb, he's at least giving his teammate Carapaz a chance for the stage win.

Mechanical for Juan Ayuso in the peloton, the rider 2nd on GC. The racing's not fully on just yet, so he should be OK to catch up.

Garcia's now been dropped under the pace of Healy, so only Carapaz and Leknessund left.

Healy’s mammoth efforts are at last at an end! He’s dropped off, leaving Carapaz and Leknessund out in front.

Ayuso is back on to the back of the peloton. It wasn't too easy for him, and he had to manoeuvre his way past several riders being dropped to get there, but did receive assistance from teammate Alessandro Covi.

Leknessund and Carapaz reach the top of the climb together, with the former taking maximum points at the top. They’re lead is 2 minutes - not much, given what Vingegaard is capable of bringing back in the final climb single-handedly, but not an impossible gap to defend.

In between the leading duo and the peloton are still García and Healy, about 50 seconds behind the former and a minute ahead of the latter. There's a chance to try to make up some ground on the descent they're on, but it looks too big to bridge back.

Here's Ben Healy doing the damage earlier.

The leaders are now on a gently descending valley road leading up to the final climb, which starts with 10km remaining. These roads will be crucial to the chances of the break’s survival - and right now it’s looking bad for them, with their lead going in the wrong direction, down to 1-40.

García and Healy have been brought back by the peloton. Bahrain-Victorious are currently leading it, and the pace is off a bit.

15KM TO GO

The slackening of the pace is giving the two leaders some hope again. Lead now heading back up towards 2 minutes, with just 5km until the start of the climb.

So here comes Monte Petrano! This is a real tough climb, with a barely relenting gradient that averages 7.9% and stays constantly at about that for the whole 10.2km duration. This is likely to cause serious damage in the peloton - especially if Vingegaard launches another early attack.

The peloton has upped the pace again, which is to the detriment of the leaders. The deficit has consequently gone back down to 1-30 as they are about to start the climb, which is unlikely to be enough even for climbers of the quality of Carapaz and Leknessund.

10KM TO GO

Carapaz and Leknessund are on the climb now! They have just 1-20 to defend. 

Carapa drops Leknessund. If there is to be a winner from the break, it's to be him.

It's already kicking off in the peloton, though. Bora-Hansgrohe are winding it up, for Jai Hindley. Riders are dopping out the back in large numbers already.

One of those riders dropped is, surprisingly, Isaac del Toro. He was one of the elite seven yesertday, but is clearly much more tired today.

 Dani Martínez is the Bora rider putting the hurt on at the front of the peloton, and he has Lennard Kämna as well as team leader Hindley with him. It's a very fierce pace, so much so that Carapaz is already just 47 seconds away.

Martínez is done, and now his Bora teammates has taken over, with Hindley on his wheel.

Only abot a dozen riders left in the peloton now.

Al of the top five on GC are present in the peloton: Vingegaard, Ayuso, Hindley, Arensman and O'Connor.

Leknessund's been brought back by this reduced, Kämna-led peloton

Kämna's done, and Hindey attacks!

Vingegaard and Ayuso are onto his wheel

Carapaz has been caught by Vingegaard, Hindley and Ayuso.

Behind, Arensman, Pidcock, Uijtdebroeks and O'Connor are chasing, a few seconds back.

6KM TO GO

Vingegaard attacks!

Ayuso and Hindley both tried to follow, but cracked. Vingegaard's off!

Vingegaard looks back, and sees the pair already way in the distance. His gap must already be ten seconds.

It was a bold effort from Bora-Hansgrohe, but they were always up agasint it trying to out-do Vingegaard on a climb like this.

5KM TO GO

Halway up the climb, and Vingegaard's lead over Ayuso and Hindley. O'Connor and Uijtdebroeks have dropped back into the chase group also including Poels, Kämna, Arensman and Pidcock - and Del Toro, who has recovered from having been dropped earlier. 

30 seconds now for Vingegaard to Ayuso and Hindley, and 50 seconds to O'Connor, Uijtdebroeks, Kämna, Arensman and Pidcock, Del Toro - but no longer Poels, who has been dropped.

Pidcock is leading the second chase group, sacrificing himself for Ineos teammate Arensman. Vingegaard may be riding away with likely overall victory, but the podium spots are still very open.

As things stand on the virtual GC, Arensman is falling further away from Ayuso in second and Hindley in third.

This is pretty much the same hierarchy as yesterday, only with Pidcock and Kämna joining the six riders who trailed Vingegaard yesterday.

Attack from Del Toro in the chase group. He was clearly holding back earlier on the climb.

Only O'Connor has gone with Del Toro.

1KM TO GO

Meanwhile Vingegaard is into the final kilometre, and has a comfortable lead of 35 seconds 

Del Toro has dropped O'Connor and appears to be getting closer to Hindley and his UAE teammate Ayuso.

Here comes Vingegaard to the finish...

Vingegaard wins stage six, his second in two days!

Hindley and Ayuso sprint for second, Ayuso just edging it. 

Del Toro is a few seconds behind in fourth, then comes Pidcock just ahead of O'Connor, then Kämna ahead of Arensman, and finally Uijtdebroeks, all within a few seconds of each other.

Vingegaard had plenty of time to sit up and celebrate before crossing the line. Victory felt inevitable, and though he didn't quite blast the field away in the manner he did yesterday, it was still another display of complete dominance. 

26 seconds was Vingegaard's final winning margin over Ayuso and Hindley, with Del Toro coming in at 36 seconds and Pidcock at O'Connor at 42 seconds.

All that means there are only two changes in the top five, with Del Toro climbing two places to fourth, and Arensman falling two places to sixth. 

That means the podium remains the same as it did overnight, with Ayuso and Hindley flanking Vingegaard in second and third respectively. They are both clearly in very good nick - it’s just there’s little anyone can do against Vingegaard in this kind of form.

Vingegaard looks as good as ever, and better than he has at this stage of the season in both 2023 and 2022, when he trailed Tadej Pogačar at Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico respectively. “I think I’m in better shape than I was last year, and the year before,” he said at the finish. “So of course I’m happy with how everything went here.” The signs are ominous for the rest of the season.

Thanks for joining us today. There is another stage to come tomorrow, and, though it doesn't have the parcours to cause any late changes to the GC, still promises to be an intriguing battle between the breakaway and the sprint, with a potential bunch finish again featuring the likes of Jasper Philipsen and Jonathan Milan. So be sure to tune in!