Giro d'Italia 2015: Stage 6 Results, Overall Standings and Highlights
Lotto Soudal's Andre Greipel comfortably won Stage 6 of the 2015 Giro d'Italia on Thursday, but his win was overshadowed by a big crash inside the final kilometers, with Giro leader Alberto Contador among those involved.
As shared by VeloNews, it appears the Spaniard is OK:
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Sky Sports Cycling shared an image of the finish:
Here's the full top 10 from Thursday's race:
| 1 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal | 4:19:42 |
| 2 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) IAM Cycling | Same Time |
| 3 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida | Same Time |
| 4 Manuel Belletti (Ita) Southeast Pro Cycling | Same Time |
| 5 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek Factory Racing | Same Time |
| 6 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Southeast Pro Cycling | Same Time |
| 7 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky | Same Time |
| 8 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team Giant-Alpecin | Same Time |
| 9 Nicola Ruffoni (Ita) Bardiani CSF | Same Time |
| 10 Davide Appollonio (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | Same Time |
Team Sky shared the profile of Thursday's stage, as the peloton anticipated another mass sprint:
A group of five riders jumped out to an early lead, but with Tinkoff-Saxo controling the pace in the peloton, the gap never troubled the sprinters, who started positioning themselves after the day's only climb.
Alessandro Malaguti was the first rider to cross the line in Pomarance, picking up three points for the mountain classification, but with 60 kilometers to go, it became clear the leaders wouldn't last until the finish line.
Lotto Soudal did most of the work in the peloton, riding for Greipel, and as shared by the team's Twitter account, they nearly closed the gap with 25 kilometers left to race:
Team Sky also got involved, as the peloton caught the break inside the final 15 kilometers.
It was a windy day, and the wide-open roads of Tuscany only aided the sprinters' teams in keeping the pack together. Per Sky, a numbers of riders fell victim to the incredible pace:
Greipel, Tom Boonen and Elia Viviani were perfectly positioned inside the final three kilometers and comfortably survived the twisting roads near the finish line, setting up a sprint between some of the peloton's quickest riders.
Lotto Soudal's train worked to perfection, setting up Greipel for a routine win. In the background, a rider appeared to clip a barrier and took several riders down with him. Contador was among them, but the man in the pink jersey was able to ride across the finish line under his own strength. He did struggle visibly, however, and decided against putting on his new pink shirt as his left arm gave him trouble.
Because Contador fell inside the final kilometers, he didn't lose any time in the general classification. The top 10 looks identical to Wednesday's:
| 1 | Alberto Contador (Spa) | Tinkoff-Saxo | 20:25:36 |
| 2 | Fabio Aru (Ita) | Astana Pro Team | 0:00:02 |
| 3 | Richie Porte (Aus) | Team Sky | 0:00:20 |
| 4 | Roman Kreuziger (Cze) | Tinkoff-Saxo | 0:00:22 |
| 5 | Dario Cataldo (Ita) | Astana Pro Team | 0:00:28 |
| 6 | Esteban Chaves (Col) | Orica GreenEdge | 0:00:37 |
| 7 | Giovanni Visconti (Ita) | Movistar Team | 0:00:56 |
| 8 | Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) | Astana Pro Team | 0:01:01 |
| 9 | Davide Formolo (Ita) | Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | 0:01:15 |
| 10 | Andrey Amador (CRc) | Movistar Team | 0:01:18 |
Here's a look at the point standings and the mountain classification:
| 1 | Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal | 75 |
| 2 | Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky | 73 |
| 3 | Marco Frapporti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | 40 |
| 4 | Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek Factory Racing | 40 |
| 5 | Moreno Hofland (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | 40 |
| 6 | Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) IAM Cycling | 35 |
| 7 | Jan Polanc (Slo) Lampre | 34 |
| 8 | Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | 26 |
| 9 | Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC | 26 |
| 10 | Simon Clarke (Aus) Orica GreenEdge | 26 |
| 1 | Jan Polanc (Slo) Lampre | 15 |
| 2 | Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha | 15 |
| 3 | Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | 14 |
| 4 | Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Bardiani Valvole | 14 |
| 5 | Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre | 12 |
| 6 | Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) IAM cycling | 10 |
| 7 | Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R | 7 |
| 8 | Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana | 6 |
| 9 | Johan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Col) Orica GreenEdge | 6 |
| 10 | Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team | 6 |
Contador was lucky to escape from the crash with relatively minor damage, but others weren't as fortunate. Danielle Colli suffered a horrific injury to his arm, and his season likely ended in Tuscany. You can see the injury by clicking here (Warning: Injury is graphic).
Greipel told reporters the stage played out exactly as he had planned, per Cycling News: "It was really like we planned in the part, we made a really long pull, and it kept us in the front and with 1.1km to go Adam Hansen just went for it and then Greg Henderson was going really for a long way. When I looked up it was just 600 metres to go, normally it’s a bit too early for him but he kept it up."
Friday's stage will be mostly flat, but the finish in Fiuggi is likely to produce a lot of action. It will be the longest stage of this year's Giro and should give a chance to some of the lesser-known riders, who will have circled this stage as their top priorities.
The sprinters won't be able to keep up on the short climbs and the descents in the finale, while the riders for the general classification have to conserve their energy for the mountains. Expect to see a wide open battle in what should be one of the most exciting stages of this year's Giro.
Pundits and opponents will keep an eye on Contador's left arm throughout the stage, and if the Spaniard shows any signs of weakness, the coming days in the mountains should see the likes of Richie Porte and Fabio Aru test the Giro favourite.
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