It was almost enough for a breakaway coup in Naples after 162 kilometres on stage 6 of the Giro d'Italia. Alessandro De Marchi (Team Jayco-AlUla) and Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) were only caught by the approaching sprinters around 300 metres before the finish, with Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) was the fastest. Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates) finished in third place.
"I showed that my legs are very good. It was just a bit disappointing that I didn't have any team support today because the team had to support our classification riders. And that's who I was missing because I think I showed today that I was the fastest. But there are still a few chances," said Ackermann at the finish.
Pedersen, meanwhile, completed his collection. The 27-year-old has now won stages in all three Grand Tours: the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana. "I'm very happy, because that's exactly what we came here for. It's nice to have this victory now. It was a tough day for the team and it's nice to give them something back with this win. It was really close and not easy to catch up with the breakaway," said the winner of stage 6 of the 2023 Giro d'Italia.
The top 10 of stage 6
- Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) 3:44:45
- Jonathan Milan (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:00
- Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates) +0:00
- Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:00
- Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) +0:00
- Michael Matthews (Team Jayco-AlUla) +0:00
- Vincenzo Albanese (Eolo-Kometa) +0:00
- Marius Mayrhofer (Team DSM) +0:00
- Lorenzo Rota (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) +0:00
- Simone Velasco (Astana Qazaqstan Team) +0:00
There were no major shifts in the overall standings. The pink jersey remains on the shoulders of Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM), who - just like all the other favourites - reached the finish with the peloton and continued to lead Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step).
How the 6th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2023 went
Five riders formed the breakaway group of the day: Alessandro De Marchi (Team Jayco-AlUla), Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech), Alexandre Delettre (Cofidis), Charlie Quartermann (Team Corratec - Selle Italia) and Francesco Gavazzi (Eolo-Kometa). With Alessandro Verre (Arkea-Samsic), there was still a single rider in pursuit for a long time, who was caught by the peloton around 90 kilometres before the finish.
Ineos Grenadiers stepped up the pace on the first climb of the day, Valico di Chiunzi (category 2), and put some riders in trouble, like Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan Team). The British sprinter later crashed on a descent and was unable to catch up with the peloton and his team-mates. He reached the finish 18:25 minutes after the peloton.
Runaways narrowly miss out on big coup on stage 6
At the second mountain classification, Picco Sant'Angelo (3rd category), De Marchi and Clarke broke away from their three breakaway colleagues and set off together on the road to Naples. In the finale, it looked for a long time as if it would only be a matter of time before the two leaders were caught by the peloton. But the sprinter teams ran out of helpers and the stage win was suddenly within reach for Clarke and De Marchi.
300 metres before the finish, the duo was caught. Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) opened the sprint very early on stage 6 of the Giro d'Italia 2023, Mads Pedersen passed him and could no longer be caught.
The Giro d'Italia 2023 starts on Friday continue with the 7th stage: A mountain finish awaits at over 2100 metres on the Gran Sasso d'Italia.
