Vuelta a Espana: Marczynski wins stage 6 in Sagunto

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Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto Soudal) claimed the biggest win of his career with victory on stage 6 of the Vuelta a España. Marczynski had been part of the day's original breakaway and was one of three riders that moved clear in the finale. The Polish rider outsprinted compatriot Pawel Poljanski (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors) to take the win.

"Phenomenal, it's an incredible feeling. I came here really wanting to win a stage. I didn't think it would happen so soon," Marczynski said in nearly perfect Spanish.

"From the start there were a thousand attacks. It was very hard. The breakaway was very big, more than 30 riders. Then as we started to climb, people were getting dropped. The last ascent, we climbed really fast. We got to the final with two and then a few others came into town.

"Then we were all looking at each other, but I said, 'I'm not going to let any attack go without me. If I don't have enough strength in the final, so be it, but I'm going to give it my all. Since I've been in the break all day, I have to take advantage of this opportunity.'

"It all worked out in the end."

The main group of favourites finished together 26 seconds behind the winning group, with Chris Froome (Team Sky) keeping hold of his red jersey. The big loser of the day was Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) after he crashed twice in the final 40 kilometres.

It had widely been predicted as a day for the escapees, but it didn't always look like they would succeed with the general classification contenders bearing down on them in the final kilometres. As the gap dwindled, Marczynski jumped out of the breakaway group – which had initially consisted of 27 riders – with Mas on the final ascent of the day. They were pursued and caught by Poljanski, Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) and Antonio Pedrero (Movistar), but five became three when Sanchez and Pedrero decided that they were likely to get caught by the favourites behind.

Marczynski and his companions chose to give themselves the benefit of the doubt and pushed on regardless. Sanchez would regret his decision and tried to chase back on with Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) with just over four kilometres to go, but the trio had enough of a margin to fight out victory between themselves.

In the general classification fight, Alberto Contador's resurgence continued and he tried to put his rivals under pressure. His dig on the final climb dropped a large number of riders but it would eventually come back together on the descent with most of the GC contenders crossing the line together. Despite the two crashes, van Garderen only lost 17 seconds, dropping him to fourth, with Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott) now second at 11 seconds to Froome.

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How it unfolded

After the breakaway succeeded on stage 5, the peloton saw the opportunity again to make an early move stick. While Wednesday saw some 17 riders make it clear of the bunch, Thursday's stage 6 to Sagunt surpassed that. The pace in the opening kilometres matched the weather, hot in every sense, with repeated attacks flying off the front. After more than 30 kilometres of racing, a breakaway began to form, first with 20 riders but that ballooned to 37 before settling at 27.

As had happened on stage 5, Team Sky was reluctant to give such a large move too much space, particularly with Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) among the 27 up the road. With the Spaniard just over six minutes down in the overall classification, he was never going to be given much rope. There was little surprise that Davide Villella (Cannondale-Drapac) was part of the attack. He has been taking his role as leader of the mountains classification very seriously and was intent on taking a few more points for his tally.

He mopped up the points on the opening two climbs, but Darwin Atapuma (UAE Team Emirates) was not going to make it easy for the Italian. He beat Villella to the top on the third climb of the day the Alto de Chirivilla. As Team Sky kept the gap to a tad over two minutes, escapees Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) and Maxime Monfort (Lotto Soudal) surged clear on the descent of the Chirivilla. The duo worked well together and extended their lead to a minute when they reached the flat, but they would not enjoy the same fortune as Alexey Lutsenko had the day before. They were eventually reeled back in with 65 kilometres remaining and soon found themselves off the back as the pace ramped up on the next ascent of the day, the Puerto del Oronet.

Jarlinson Pantano (Trek-Segafredo) was the rider behind the increase in speed and his efforts got rid of quite a few of the original move, including Villella. It looked like Pantano was interested in the points at the top, but Atapuma had the legs and outsprinted him over the KOM line.

The final climb of the day the Puerto del Garbi loomed into view with just under 50 kilometres to the finish. It only earned second category status but with ramps of over 22 per cent it would be no easy prospect. In the escape group it was Lotto Soudal and Quick-Step Floors on the attack again but this time with Tomasz Marczynski and Enric Mas. The pair jumped clear of their companions with two kilometres to the top of the climb. The peloton was now just two minutes behind at this point and closing.

The general classification fight

It would be in the peloton, or what was left of it, where the most interesting action would take place. Perhaps taking notes from Team Sky the day before, Trek-Segafredo stormed into the Puerto del Garbi at high speed, with Peter Stetina riding on the front. He quickly made way for his team leader Contador, who appeared in much better shape after suffering with stomach problems in the opening days of the race. Contador took up the challenge with gusto, forcing a huge split in the group of favourites with several riders, including Nibali and Chaves, initially losing touch. Froome kept in contact, but only with the help of Wout Poels.

From the original breakaway, Pantano dropped back and began setting a pace for Contador, who had Froome, Tejay van Garderen, Carlos Betancur and Jan Polanc with him. As the group made their way down the technical descent, Van Garderen came down hard as he appeared to either touch wheels or hit something on the road. Betancur was left with nowhere to go and came down with him. The pair joined Jasper Hansen (Astana) and Axel Domont (AG2R La Mondiale), who had been part of the original breakaway and had just crashed in the same place. The prognosis didn't appear good for any of the quartet.

The group of favourites came back together on the descent, minus Van Garderen, who was back up but now over a minute behind, and David de la Cruz. The leaders, now with Sanchez, Poljanski and Pedrero in tow, pushed on but their advantage was brought down to less than 20 seconds on the flat. Sanchez and Pedrero decided that the effort wasn't worth it and dropped back to the Froome group.

Sanchez would regret his decision to leave the escape group when, with four kilometres to go, it appeared that they would actually make the move stick. He followed an attack from Polanc, as the gap hovered at around 30 seconds. It would prove just too little too late for the pair.

Meanwhile, Van Garderen almost had the Froome group in his sights when he hit the deck again going around a roundabout. He was on his way quickly enough, but it was another battering for the American in a tough day of racing.
The three up front would go on to contest the victory with Marczynski taking the honours, while Sanchez and Polanc came across the line eight seconds later and the group of favourites a few more seconds after that.

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