Tirreno-Adriatico 2024: Vingegaard also dominates on Monte Petrano and is poised for overall victory
Thomas Huber
· 09.03.2024
On the queen stage of Tirreno-Adriatico 2024 up Monte Petrano, the German team Bora-Hansgrohe set a fast pace for their captain Jai Hindley on the final climb. Eight kilometres from the finish, the Australian then launched his attack, which only Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) were able to follow. A short time later, Vingegaard pulled away from his two rivals by stepping up the pace and kept his pursuers at bay. After his outstanding performance the day before, the Dane once again showed that he is the outstanding rider of the tour. His two pursuers were almost half a minute behind in the end.
Vingegaard also too strong for the competition on stage 6
Although Bora-Hansgrohe tried to lure Jonas Vingegaard out of his reserve on the last climb with high speed, this endeavour failed. Vingegaard was able to easily parry the attempts and even launch a counter-attack himself. Neither Hindley nor Ayuso were able to react to this, so that after the previous day, the other contenders for overall victory were also shown their limits on stage 6. Vingegaard now has a lead of one and a half minutes over Juan Ayuso in the overall classification ahead of the final stage. The Dane is in a league of his own in the stage race and is as good as certain of overall victory.
"The team set the pace for me all day. Once again, it's nice to be rewarded today. It's also nice for me that I was able to win again. Two stage wins make for a perfect week for us." - Jonas Vingegaard in the winner's interview
Tirreno-Adriatico 2024: Results - The top 10 of stage 6
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) 4:31:57
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +0:26
- Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:26
- Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) +0:36
- Thomas Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:42
- Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +0:42
- Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:46
- Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:46
- Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:48
- Wouter Poels (Bahrain-Victorious) +1:14
Tirreno-Adriatico 2024: Results - The current standings in the overall standings
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) 23:06:32
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +1:24
- Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) +1:52
- Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) +2:20
- Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +2:24
- Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) +2:25
- Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma | Lease a Bike) +3:10
- Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) +4:02
- Thomas Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) +4:05
- Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) +4:24
How the 6th stage of Tirreno-Adriatico 2024 went
The pace was high right from the start of the race, making it difficult for breakaways to get away from the peloton. Big names around Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal - Quick Step) and Ben Healy (EF Education EasyPost) were committed to getting into the leading group of the day. The Irishman was the first to manage to break away. He was then joined by other riders to form a nine-man breakaway group: in addition to Healy and Alaphilippe, Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost), Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) and the German Nikias Arndt (Bahrain-Victorious) were also in the group.
For long stretches, the team of overall leader Jonas Vingegaard was responsible for the chase in the peloton: Visma | Lease a Bike kept the escapees on a tight leash so that the leaders never had a lead of more than three minutes on their pursuers. On the first categorised climb, the peloton came dangerously close to the escapees. Their gap melted to around 30 seconds, but the nine leading riders then managed to extend their lead again.
Well-known names have to leave the race
After a crash, Max Poole (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), who was eleventh in the overall standings up to that point, had to abandon the race and be taken to hospital, while Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) also had to retire after the crash. A short time later, Neilson Powless (EF Education EasyPost) also had to leave the race. This meant that there were a number of prominent casualties on stage 6.
EF Education EasyPost increases the pace in the escape group
On the climb up to the intermediate sprint classification at Pian di Trebbio, the first riders in the breakaway group ran into problems - mainly because the two riders from EF Education EasyPost Ben Healy and Richard Carapaz kept up the pace. First Julian Alaphilippe dropped into the peloton, then Michal Kwiatkowski, Axel Zingle (Cofidis), Nikias Arndt and Nans Peters (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) also had to leave the front of the race.
Shortly afterwards, Ben Healy and Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar) also broke away. On the final climb, Richard Carapaz left his last remaining rival in the breakaway group, Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), behind and tried to bring his one and a half minute lead over the finish line at the foot of the final climb.
Bora-Hansgrohe pushes the pace
Richard Carapaz's lead then quickly dwindled as Bora-Hansgrohe took over the pace in the peloton on Monte Petrano. Many riders quickly got into trouble, so that a group of favourites formed around Jai Hindley, Jonas Vingegaard, Juan Ayuso and Tom Pidcock, among others. Jai Hindley then attacked from this group. While Vingegaard and Ayuso were able to follow the Australian, Carapaz was caught - so there was to be no breakaway victory on stage 6.
Vingegaard irresistible
Shortly afterwards, it was Vingegaard who attacked decisively and pulled away from his rivals. He quickly extended his lead to over 20 seconds, leaving Hindley and Ayuso to fight it out for second place. The two chasers came under pressure from youngster Isaac del Torro (UAE Team Emirates), who stormed up the road but was unable to close the gap in the end. Ayuso narrowly beat Hindley in the final sprint and finished second, Hindley third. The best German was Lennard Kämna, who crossed the finish line in seventh place.
