Scarponi Pulls Off Heroic Win in Giro's Stage Six

Today's Stage Six of the Giro saw Michele Scarponi (Diquigiovanni) pull off a heroic win after joining a breakaway for almost 200 kilometers and then dropping his companions for the win, 30 seconds ahead of the raging peloton.

Stage Six was a staggering 248 kilometers in length, the second longest stage of the Giro, and the length of most Spring Classics, only this is one stage out of many in a Grand Tour rather than a specific one-day race. 

With two mountains to climb and a long downhill run into the finishing town of Mayrhofen, Austria, it was a demanding day for the riders, especially those in the breakaway.

Guillame Bonnafond (AG2R La Mondiale), Vasili Kiryenka (Caisse d'Epargne), Oscar Gatto (ISD), Michele Scarponi (Diquigiovanni), and Kasper Klostergaard (Saxo Bank) were the five riders who broke away from the peloton 55 kilometers into the stage and worked up an advantage of about eight minutes, but later in the stage, their advantage was being eaten by the kilometer as LPR picked up the pace in the peloton. 

Time was not on the breakaway riders' sides. On the second climb of the Hochkrimml, Scarponi and Kiriyenka pulled away from their companions with only a four minute lead with 60 kilometers remaining.

That advantage had dwindled even more to only 1:50 with 15 kilometers to go on the downhill stretch. With a raging peloton behind, victory was starting to look questionable. 

However, Scarponi, the winner of March's Tirreno-Adriatico, dug in, dropped Kiriyenka, and managed to hold off the storming peloton to win the stage by 32 seconds. Kiriyenka had been swallowed up in the finishing kilometers.

The other two podium finishers came out of the bunch, with Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia) and Allan Davis (QuickStep) sprinting for second and third.

Danilo DiLuca (LPR) keeps his overall lead, and the top 10 on GC stay the same with the same time margins for finishing together today. Lance Armstrong (Astana), however, lost yet another minute by the end of the day.

Tomorrow's Stage Seven is equally long at 244 kilometers and could be even tougher.  Its first 200 kilometers are entirely comprised of gradual climbing, followed by a blistering 30 kilometer descent to the finishing town of Chiavenna, Italy.  A sprint finish or a breakaway are the most likely options.