It may have been the last chance to drive Del Toro out of the blue jersey and prevent the 22-year-old from taking the trident for the Tirreno winner after the flat final stage. On the final climb of the 188-kilometre stage between San Severino Marche and Camerino in central Italy, Del Toro's biggest rival Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) tried to make up seconds. But even the home advantage - Pellizzari learnt to ride a bike on those roads - was not enough to put Del Toro in his place.

Instead, the man in blue turned the tables, countered Pellizzari's attack and won by three seconds ahead of Johannessen and Jorgenson, with Pellizzari finishing fourth nine seconds behind in front of his home crowd. In the overall standings, the two are now 42 seconds apart in first and second place, with Jorgenson one behind in third. Johannessen has now overtaken Primoz Roglic (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl - Trek) and is fourth.

"It was pretty close today, but I'm over the moon to have won this stage. I already said yesterday that I wanted this," said Del Toro after his first stage win at the Tirreno, having previously finished two stages in second place. "When Giulio Pellizzari attacked, I wasn't sure whether I should catch him again, because it was a very hard climb and he is extremely strong. We couldn't give him too much space. It gives me mixed feelings to win in his home town. Now there's one more stage to go - let's hope for the best result tomorrow."

It was Del Toro's fourth victory of the season. After the UAE Tour, he could add his second round trip tomorrow.

>> Tirreno-Adriatico 2026: Route and stages in detail

Tirreno-Adriatico 2026 - Results of the 6th stage

How the 6th stage of Tirreno-Adriatico 2026 went

A small hill shortly after the start made for a nervous start to the stage. Wout van Aert (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) accelerated the peloton so much that it tore apart after just a few kilometres. Afterwards, however, the situation calmed down again and both parts of the peloton came together. And on the initiative of Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers), a leading group emerged.

Ganna was joined by six other pros, including Gregor Mühlberger (Decathlon CMA CGM Team). The group gained almost four minutes on the first big climb to the Sassotetto ski area.

With 80 kilometres to go, the situation had changed little - apart from the fact that the breakaway had already lost a minute and a half on the peloton, which had reached the circuit around the finish line in Camerino. Shortly before the first crossing of the finishing line, just 60 kilometres before the finish, the leading group broke up on the climb. Mühlberger and Clément Braz Afonso (Groupama - FDJ United) shook off the rest.

Runaways do not admit defeat

Meanwhile, the pace in the peloton slowed down and the lead over the field, which was already down to 1:30 minutes, increased by another minute. Richard Carapaz (EF Education - EasyPost) took advantage of the calm in the peloton and went on the offensive. With 45 kilometres to go, he had caught up with the first chasers of the leading duo around Ganna, but was still a minute behind the front. Ten kilometres later, the attack was over.

The two remaining breakaway riders fought like lions against a group of favourites with a minimal lead, which had already dropped to ten seconds in the meantime. They were only caught seven kilometres before the finish. Three kilometres later, shortly before the final climb, Wout van Aert (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) attacked. He was replaced a short time later by Ben Healy (EF Education - EasyPost).

Then Pellizzari made his entrance: the man in the white jersey also went on the offensive. Under the devil's cloth, the Italian was on the Irishman and left him standing. Del Toro had to lead at the back and closed the gap again 600 metres before the finish. Jorgenson attacked over the top and the Mexican was the only one to stay on and then followed up to secure the stage win. Johannessen was also able to catch Jorgenson. Pellizzari had to settle for fourth place.