Giro d'Italia, Stage 6

Stage 6, Thursday, May 12, ORVIETO – FIUGGI km 216

START
At 11:46 am 194 riders roll out from the Piazza del Duomo of Orvieto.


At km 9, Veikkanen and Vandewelle break free; 5 km later Popovych, Modolo and Veuchelen join them.

The field does not respond and the 5 escapees, at km 20, have already a 2’55” lead. The gap between the breakaway and the packed bunch chasing them goes up; at km 35: 4’. Average speed after one hour: 39,700 kph.

King of the Mountain – 4th category: Soriano nel Cimino (VT) [m 450]: Modolo comes over the climb first ahead of Popovych, Veikkanen, Vandewelle and Veuchelen.

The bunch, led by Rabobank riders, pass the KOM with 3’50” of delay. Km 48: 5’05”. Km 63: 4’40”. In Civita Castellana (km 73): 5’15”. Km 77: 5’40”. Average speed after two hours: 40.900 kph.

With 125 km to the finish the escapees lead is 5’38”. In Fiano Romano – in the feed zone – the field reach the KOM sprint with a 5’25” delay. With 100 km to go to cross the finish in Fiuggi, the gap is always of about 5’.

After three hours, average speed: 41.300 kph.

Km 128: Modolo, Popovych, Veikkanen, Vandewelle and Veuchelen’s lead goes down: 4’18”.

Intermediate Sprint: Cave (RM): Vandewelle passes through the sprint first ahead of Veikkanen Modolo, Veuchlen and Popovych. After 4 hours of race, average speed: 40.900 kph.

On the climb leading to La Forma, Modolo falls back out of the break., which is now made up of four men. With 30 km left to race the four riders still keep a 2’40” advantage. Modolo is caught by the bunch. On the ascent to Agnani, Veikkanen is left behind. Three riders in the lead. At the back of the field, Cavendish is suffering. Pirazzi jumps ahead but is caught by the bunch.

– 10 km: Vandewelle, Veuchlen and Popovych are chased by the peloton but keep a 43” lead. Vandewelle attacks. With 8 km the he is still at 48” over the field. Veuchlen and Popovych are caught. With 1500 metres to go Vandewelle is caught by the bunch.

Last km. The Lampre – Isd riders lead the sprint. Di luca gives it a try and anticipates the sprinters 500 meters to go but Ventoso, Petacchi and Ferrari catch and overtake him.

FINISH

Francisco Ventoso grabs the win right ahead of Petacchi, who fails to catch the Spanish rider and collapses after finishing. Roberto Ferrari (Androni Giocattoli) third. Pieter Weening keeps Maglia Rosa.

Winner’s time : 5h 15’ 39”, at an average speed of 41.058 kph.

Classification leaders:

Pieter Weening (Rabobank Cycling Team) is the Maglia Rosa Estathé.
Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre - ISD) is the Maglia Rosso Passione Gruppo Saint-Gobain.
Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank Cycling Team) is the Maglia Bianca Adecco.
Martin Kohler (BMC Racing Team) is the Maglia Verde Banca Mediolanum.

Stage 7, Maddaloni to Montevergine, will be the shortest stage of this year's Giro at 110 km. It is rated "Alta Montagna" and will have the race's first mountain top finish.



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