A five-man breakaway had the last laugh on stage six of Tirreno-Adriatico from Castelraimondo to Lido di Fermo today. Photo: Supplied
A five-man breakaway had the last laugh on stage six of Tirreno-Adriatico from Castelraimondo to Lido di Fermo today.
Smiling broadest was Mads Würtz Schmidt (Israel Start-Up Nation) who beat Brent van Moer (Lotto Soudal) in a sprint finish to claim stage honours.
Simone Velasco (Gazprom-RusVelo) took third ahead of fellow escapees Jan Bakelants (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) and Nelson Oliveira (Movistar).
The quintet managed to hold off the peloton which finished 1:09 later.
“It means the world to me. I haven’t won since I turned pro. It’s a huge relief, it’s what I’ve been fighting for for the last five years,” an emotional Würtz Schmidt said post-stage.
“It was a hard start. First I tired with two other guys but we didn’t get away. Then I got away the second time with this group and we worked really well together.
“We all had in mind that we had to go hard in the break all the way to break the morale in the peloton, and we succeeded with that.
“We worked really well together. It was a super hard stage but I felt good when we came into the final.”
Overnight leader Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) finished safely in the main bunch to maintain his 1:15 advantage over Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) heading into Tuesday’s final individual time-trial stage over 10.1km around San Benedetto del Tronto.
Stage six results:
1. Mads Würtz Schmidt (DEN) Israel Start-Up Nation 03:42:09
2. Brent van Moer (BEL) Lotto Soudal
3. Simone Velasco (ITA) Gazprom-RusVelo
4. Jan Bakelants (BEL) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert
5. Nelson Oliveira (POR) Movistar Team
6. Emils Liepins (LAT) Trek-Segafredo 00:25
7. Tim Merlier (BEL) Alpecin-Fenix 01:09
8. Davide Ballerini (ITA) Deceuninck-Quick-Step
9. Elia Viviani (ITA) Cofidis
10. Max Kanter (GER) Team DSM
Overall GC standings after stage six:
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 26:24:59
2. Wout van Aert (BEL) Jumbo-Visma 01:15
3. Mikel Landa Meana (ESP) Bahrain Victorious 03:00
4. Egan Bernal Gomez (COL) Ineos Grenadiers 03:30
5. Matteo Fabbro (ITA) Bora-Hansgrohe 03:54
6. Tim Wellens (BEL) Lotto Soudal 04:30
7. João Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep 04:42
8. Romain Bardet (FRE) Team DSM 05:03
9. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) Trek-Segafredo 05:54
10. Simon Yates (GR) Team BikeExchange 06:58
