Stage 6 of Tirreno-Adriatico was the one Silvio Herklotz had marked on his calendar to put his rivals to the sword. But he must have marked the wrong day, because he did that yesterday. So he will have to treat today as his encore. Stage 6 is 245k with single cat 1 climb midway through the stage and then a series of punchy climbs throughout the last third of the stage. None of those climbs are categorized so the only KOM points are at the Cat 1.
The main man is joined at the top of the favorite list today by the punchier riders, Areruya and Guldhammer. Both did well in the mountains yesterday and will hope to continue the momentum.
Not much of fight to get into the break, 14 riders try for it and the peloton lets them go. With 20k gone 12 of them have 2’55 on the peloton and the last 2 with 55 seconds still to make up.
A number of familiar faces in the first 12: Burke Vosekalns (12 pts in KOM) Geniets Parra Bustamente Koshevoy (6 pts) Novikov (14 pts) Vingegaard Inkelaar Ringheim Lampawog (14 pts) Stoltz Zakarin
Vosekalns is the best placed in the GC in 21st but over 10 minutes behind. However, he was one of the strongest riders on the road yesterday and he has Stoltz to work for hm today.
The two still trying to close are Prado (4 KOM pts) and Carcueva (10 pts). It is raining again.
Around 200k to go and the breaks lead has stabilized at just under 5 minutes. The last 2 riders have joined the front 12.
175km to go for the peloton, work from Festina and Carlsberg have reduced the lead to 4’09.
With 16km to go the break start the Cat 1 climb to Sella di Corno. It is 12.3 km at an average of 4.0% Their lead is just under 4 minutes.
1.4 k to the top as Prado launches the first attack.
Novikov wins the sprint at the top. That gives him enough points to lead the KOM. Lampawog takes 4 points moving him to 4th in the competition. None of the other scorers have significant total points.
The peloton crosses the same point about 4 minutes later with Xero on the front. 150k to go.
The breakaway passes the only sprint point with no action. Their lead is exactly 3 minutes with 128k to ride. Working behind are Xero, Aegon, Carlsberg, King Power, Mapei, Popo4ever and Festina.
78 km to go as the break starts the final chapters of the stage. Pretty much all up and down to the finish from here with a lot of generally short climbs. The lead is 2’25. A handful of riders have been dropped by the peloton, Egger who punctured, is among them.
54km to go the peloton has the lead down to 1’21 as Van Niekerk leads for Xero. Nobody dropped from the break the peloton is down to 132 riders.
Shortly afterwards the peloton splits into 3 under the pressure. Berhane in the 2nd group, a number of riders in the top 20 on the GC in the 3rd group.
47km to go and Geniets is the first to attack in the break. The peloton is 1’07 back and has been splitting and reforming.
With 44km to go the breakaway has reached the largest climb of the last third of the race. The Valico Della Forchetta, 9.4k at 3.6%. Geniets was caught but Burke, Prado, and Carcueva have countered and have a small gap.
The peloton is 1’21 behind and is currently in two pieces with a 40-rider group having about a minute over another group with 75 riders. Top twenty riders not up front are: De la Cruz (20th), Karnulin (15th), Mamykin (16th) and Sivakov (17th).
3km to the top for the breakaway, the 3 attackers were caught and a new trio has a gap: Parra Bustamente, Novikov, and Vingegaard. But the first chasing group, which is down to 26 riders, has almost caught them. The riders dropped from that group include Warbasse (19th on GC) and Stüssi, Herklotz last helper.
As the front 3 reach the top their gap over the rest of the break, where Stoltz
is working, is up to 1’06. The main chase group has been reduced to 20 riders and run out of helpers willing to work so the gap to the leaders has opened up to 2’03. The additional riders dropped from the chase group include Aular (13th on GC) but Bewley, Groenewegen and Coquard are all still there.
25km to go as the front three start the next set of climbs. There are three climbs in the next 10k then a short flat section and then 2 more climbs right before the finish, including the finishing climb to Chieti where Herklotz will crush them like ants, I mean where the riders will battle for the stage win.
Behind the rest of the break is at 58 seconds while the chase group is at 1’24 as Smith is now getting help from Aranburu and Higuita. 1’35 behind them is a Mol led group with all of the major dropped riders.
25k to go for the peloton as Aranburu shuts down the 2nd break group, the last 3 are 1’10 ahead. Smith, 14th on GC, is dropped, he had done a lot of work.
23km to go and up front Vingegaard has dropped his companions.
20k to go for Vingegaard and he has 33 seconds over the other two as he starts the 2nd of the trio of climbs, it is just 1.1km but averages 8.9%. Aranburu has cracked and the chase group has slowed, they are now 1’41 behind the leader.
After some work from domestique extraordinaire Higuita, Areruya (in white) uses the steep climb to launch the first GC attack. Up front Novikov has dropped Parra Bustamente.
Roglic joins Areruya and they sweep past Parra Bustamente and open up a gap.
With 14km to go Vingegaard reaches the flat section, the final climbs start in 6 km. Behind Guldhammer has attacked the chase group which is being led by Herklotz.
The race situation looks like this:
Herklotz has a big lead so some of the other GC riders have a lot more to lose to the attackers and as the chase group reaches the flat section it is Groenewegen who goes to the front.
10k to go for the leader. His gap is down to 13 seconds over Novikov and 36 seconds over Roglic and Areruya. Guldhammer is at 57 seconds and has dropped Parra Bustamante. In the main chase group, at 1’30, Bewley is now helping Groenewegen
A short way up the penultimate climb it is over for the break as Areruya, Roglic and Guldhammer catch Vingegaard. Great riding by the Carlsberg rider to catch the other two but had to go deep. Novikov has been passed and dropped. The chase group is 1’48 behind with Herklotz leading again.
5k banner and Vingegaard has been dropped. A little more to go on this climb and then a short downhill and the final climb. The lead over the chase group has grown to 2’33. Padun did a little work but has cracked and the rest are looking at each other. Roglic and Guldhammer have moved up to virtual 2nd and 3rd. The climbers must be assuming they can get this back tomorrow. The group with the other top 20 riders on GC has almost bridged back up.
The front 3 reach the final climb with 3’31 over the chase group. It is 2.1 km at 7.3% with the steepest section at the start.
1k to go and Guldhammer is struggling to stay on the wheel of Roglic.
500 meters. Does Roglic have the speed to come around Areruya? Behind Bewley is now leading the merged chase groups up the start of the climb, the gap is 3’44.
He is not going to be able to pass him. What a victory for the Rwandan.
Guldhammer takes 3rd, he used too much energy closing the gap to be competitive at the finish. But he will reap major gains in the GC.
Vingegaard takes 4th as his reward for a day in the break.
3’44 after Areruya, Bewley wins the sprint from the chase group ahead of Herklotz who takes 6th. The World Champion didn’t have the team or enough help from the rest to take his 3rd straight stage. He does hold on to his GC lead but by just 14 seconds over Roglic. Areruya moves to 3rd 3rd (1’05) and Guldhammer 4th (1’19). We will see if they can defend those positions tomorrow.
7th to 10th on hte stage go to Yates, Novikov, Pluchkin and Aranburu. The Tinkoff rider also takes the KOM lead for his breakaway efforts.
Other than the places dropped to the front 3 finishers on the stage not much change in the GC top 20 but Aular drops to 16th and De la Cruz drops to 29th.
Herklotz still leads the points competition, Areruya the young rider competition.
Guldhammer’s and the rest of Carlsberg earn the team jersey for their efforts.
Tirreno-Adriatico 
